


Genesis 1

by SpencerandHotchLover



Series: Genesis [1]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 15:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4484324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpencerandHotchLover/pseuds/SpencerandHotchLover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is very AU and does not follow cannon. Jasper and Bella meet during in the great depression. Bella has been bitten by a vampire and he is feeding on her when Jasper happens to come by the alley and save her life calls as the other vampire to run off. Jasper then discovers that the two of them are mates so instead of finishing her off he instead turns her into a vampire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Genesis 1

Genesis

August 17, 1930

Bella Swan sighed and began to head back to the little house that she called home. The house was hers free and clear and had been since her parents untimely deaths several years before. That was good as she didn't have to worry about paying it off and in fact she barely made enough at the little clothing shop she worked at to buy clothes and put food on the table.

Most of the citizens of this small town didn't approve of a young woman living alone, especially one that had never had a husband.

Bella just ignored the gossips as a lot of people in this town were very old fashioned and didn't think it was proper for a young woman to live alone at all not unless she was a widow who's husband had passed away.

The thing was that with her mother and father dead she had no choice, but to live by herself as she had no other relatives that she knew of and even if she had she was used to to taking care of herself. She wasn't saying that her parents hadn't loved her in their own way but her father, who had been part of the local police force, had been so busy all the time that she had hardly seen him and her mother had died when she was 10. Bella often thought that her father would have died of grief at his wife's death if he hadn't had a child to support and so with Bella's help he had dragged himself out of bed every morning in order to go to work so that there would be money for food and other necessaries. Her father, Charlie had loved her mother, Renée so much that Bella often wished to find someone who loved her even half as much and someone she could love in return. If she was going to find somebody to fill that position through she was going to have to get out of this town since none of the village lads fit the bill and if truth be known she couldn't stand most of them and she knew that they felt the same about her. She was often called a hoyden and wild simply because she liked doing the same things that boys did, climb trees, swim in the river with nothing but a pair of underwear on, catch frogs as unlike most females she wasn't afraid of picking up something slimy. Besides most of the boys were either already married, or at least engaged and the ones that remained bored her to tears. Also there was no way that any of those boys would give her the amount of freedom she was used to and she wasn't about to become like a bird in a gilded cage, which was very pretty to look at, and hear sing, but not very useful otherwise.

At least the house was hers free and clear of any debt and that was a very large boon as she never would have been able to afford a place of her own on what she made at the shop.

Unfortunately, times were poor indeed as this was the beginning of what was known as the Great Depression.

Bella just hoped this economic slump was over soon as 90 percent of the people were struggling just to keep from starving. Jobs were very scant on the ground and Bella knew she was very lucky to have a job at all. Luckily, for her, she was perfectly happy without very many possessions like a lot of people. So long as she had enough food, a roof over her head and wood for the fire in the winter she was content.

Sure, she didn't have as much as some of those people who had managed to keep their fortunes, despite the times, but then her family had never been well off.

Suddenly, Bella was passing an alley and heard a sound. Her insatiable curiosity got the better of her and she looked into it and saw a man, or what she thought was a man anyway leaning over another man who was laying on the ground apparently unconscious. At first it seemed that the man that was leaning over the prone figure was just picking his pockets of anything valuable, but then Bella noticed that the crouching man actually had his teeth attached the pulse of the other man's neck as if he was draining his blood.

"I'm seeing things," Bella said to herself, but for some reason even though she was sure it was just her imagination she was frightened beyond belief.

Suddenly the man looked up from where he was feeding and was on Bella so fast that she didn't even have time to scream before the man or boy or whatever he was, was on her so fast that Bella barely knew what was happening before the thing's teeth were sunk into the pulse of her throat and was draining her dry. The man or was it a boy dragged her deep in to the alley so that no one would see them and continued to drain her blood.

Bella struggled but it did no good as the thing's grip was as tight as a clamp in fact tighter and there was absolutely no way for her to get free. Bella could feel her vision dimming and knew it wouldn't be long before she was dead.

The man had bright red hair that was kind of naturally messy Bella noticed even as her vision faded.

"I'm sorry, so very sorry," the man whispered to her and Bella heard true regret in his smooth velvet voice before he reattached his teeth to the side of her neck.

"Hey!" yelled a voice just as Bella knew she was about to die. The man released Bella's neck abruptly and was gone out of the other end of the alley so fast that it was almost as if he had just sunk right into the ground.

Bella slumped to the ground, her vision dim and knew that even though the man whatever he had been had stopped draining her blood she was still dying and it would be a slow and painful process.

Suddenly, a man was kneeling over her slumped body examining her critically. The man had red eyes Bella noticed even though her vision was so dim and the alley was so dark that she might've been mistaken.

"I can save your life," the man said his voice deep with slight southern accent. "Or I can leave you here to die, but you will have to choose."

The man, examined her critically again and noticed that she was a very beautiful woman with curly brown hair and deep brown eyes and couldn't have been more than 21 or 22. The man who had long blonde hair looked into the eyes of the woman deeply and then as if he couldn't control his actions he touched the side for face gently, almost tenderly and immediately felt as if he had been struck by lightning as little sparks of energy danced where his hand lay.

Was this what Peter had meant when he had said that he had to come to this town that there was something here that he needed and that he couldn't live without? Who was this woman? Jasper wondered as he studied her more intently then he had before.

Suddenly who this woman was came to Jasper in a blinding moment of clarity. She is my mate? Is that why Peter sent me here knowing what I would find? She can't be anything else because I never would've bothered to save any other human from another vampire, but something had compelled him to do it this time.

"I don't want to die," the woman said softly her brown eyes more than half closed, her voice a mere whisper of sound so faint as to be almost nonexistent.

"Then I will change you," Jasper decided decisively, having made his decision. Besides her saying she didn't want to die was as good as consent, which was good as now that he knew she was his mate he would change her with or without her permission as he had been looking for his mate ever since he had fled Maria and to let her die would mean the end for him as well.

The woman slumped even more and Jasper leaned down until his teeth were right above the pulse point of her neck and then he bit down almost gently draining just a couple sips of her blood in order to replace it with his venom for she didn't really have much blood to lose after that red haired vampire had fled at the sound of his voice, which was strange come to think of for vampires were not known for abandoning their meals. In fact all the vampires he had before this would have growled at any of their kind that had dared to interrupt their feeding and yet the red haired vampire had just fled instead of attacking him for interrupting his meal. It was very strange indeed not that Jasper had time to decipher why at the moment.

The woman began to scream almost immediately and Jasper picked her up gently and started to run away from the town so its inhabitants would not be alerted to the sound of a woman in agony and come looking for the cause.

Finally Jasper stopped when he was far enough into the trees of the forest that surrounded the town that no one was likely to hear her scream or if they did they would be dead soon afterwards. Luckily for him few people ventured into the forest except woodcutter, trappers and the occasional hunter so they should be relatively undisturbed here.

Jasper held the woman against his chest cradling her tenderly and gently running a hand through her hair while whispering softly into her ear as she screamed from the pain of the transformation.

Here he was Jasper Whitlock holding his mate as she transformed into a vampire and yet he didn't even know her name. He had found no ID on her as it had probably been lost when that other vampire had attacked her.

Her disappearance would be just one more mystery and that would never be solved as the people of the town would never discover a body.

Jasper couldn't believe that he had found his mate at long last and he knew he owed Peter a great debt although Peter would probably not see it that way and would wave off anything that Jasper offered him. Peter would probably say that he didn't have this ability for nothing and that Jasper had saved his life as well as that of his mate's and that Jasper was his brother in all but blood and that was all that mattered

As the love of his life continued to scream Jasper tried his best to soothe her pain with his empathic gift although there was only so much he could do as she must've felt like 1000 hot swords were piercing her flesh, that she was being dipped in boiling white-hot lava and that she'd had acid poured over her wounds that were eating through her human flesh in a matter of minutes.

Jasper remembered well his own transformation even though that had been almost 70 years ago, shuddered and tried not to think about it as he continued to stroke the woman's hair softly and also her cheeks even kissing her forehead knowing that his life had just changed forever and for the better. Nevermore would he be lonely like he had been for so long as he had a feeling that this woman was going to light up his life and make it more fun and far less grim.

He would love and cherish her for the rest of their existences together, but after her transformation she was going to have to go through her newborn year which Jasper knew from experience was not easy by any stretch of the imagination not even under the most ideal circumstances.

"Shh, it'll be alright," Jasper soothed with more love and tenderness than he had believed he possessed as the woman let out a particularly loud scream. "I am here and I won't leave you, ever."

Jasper leaned his back against the tree he was sitting under and continued to talk and tenderly stroke the woman's hair for three days of the painful transformation fulfilling the promise he had made to her and to himself by not leaving her for even an instant even though it meant he was denying himself as he had not hunted in several weeks and the woman's plight had interrupted his hunt for a meal.

Three days later

The woman's heart beat one final time within her battered chest and then stopped all together and with the stop of her heart her screams stopped as well. The woman's eyes opened immediately and she stood up moving unconsciously at vampire speed until she was many feet away from her would be rescuer.

"Who are you? What am I? Why does my throat feel like it's on fire?"

Jasper rose from the ground cautiously but did not approach the woman at all as he knew very well how volatile a newborn vampire could be since he had trained hundreds of them doing the southern wars. The woman was perfectly capable of ripping him limb from limb without even really trying and would be for the next year.

"I'm Jasper Whitlock," Jasper introduced himself talking normally even though the woman was at least 20 feet away as he knew she would be able hear him perfectly fine from where she was standing. "I rescued you from another vampire who was draining you dry and even though I stopped him from killing you immediately you would've died anyway if I had not changed you into what I am as he had drained most of your blood. You would've died of shock in just a few hours if nothing else. Do you remember your name?"

The woman seemed to think about that and didn't answer for a long moment as if searching her memory for what her name was until finally she said, "I believe it's Bella although I have no idea what my last name was as I don't remember very much except the pain."

"Bella," Jasper breathed very quietly. "What a beautiful name for a beautiful lady."

The now named Bella lowered her head and Jasper could tell that she would be blushing if she had been able to.

"To answer your question about why your throat is burning it is because you need blood in order to survive now that you are like me and therefore a vampire."

Bella seemed to think about this for a few seconds and then nodded saying, "That makes sense. Where do we get some blood because the burning of my throat is about to drive me insane, if vampires can go insane that is."

"Follow me. After we get us a meal we can talk," Jasper said as he started to run at vampire speed Bella following without thinking about it.

"Where are we going?" asked Bella even while she was running. A little part of her mind was amazed that she could run so fast as she knew she was a blur not to mention talk at the same time. She was not getting out of breath for instance or a stitch in her side or tripping over her own feet like she would have if she had still been human.

"We going to another town that isn't too far from where you were living to get you a meal as we don't want to go back to where you lived because people might recognize you if anybody saw you not that's too likely, but you never know. We can get us a meal there and then we can talk."

Jasper was happier then he had ever been for Bella for one thing wasn't acting like a typical newborn at least so far, which would make things easier, but also hadn't complained, about having to drink blood or being a vampire. It was possible that she knew that what had had done had been the only way for her to survive at all and therefore accepted the situation as she knew that it would not change.

Of course really these were just minor considerations as ever since Bella had been turned into a vampire he could feel that powerful tug that was supposed to signify a vampire's mate as Peter had told him about it so that he would recognize it. He was sure that Bella felt it is well although she was probably too hungry to notice it at the moment, but after she fed they would have a nice long talk and hopefully she wouldn't reject what he told her out of hand, but then you never knew especially with a new made vampire as it took some a lot of time to get used to their new bodies and to be logical and rational.

"How much further?" asked Bella even as she was running Jasper slowing his gait so that he didn't outpace Bella as he was just a little bit faster than she was.

"We should be coming up on the town any second now," Jasper promised and just as he finished his sentence they did indeed, get the end of the forest to see a small town just over the next rise although it was bigger than the one that Bella had been born in.

"Let's hunt," Bella said eagerly speeding towards the town Jasper following people.

"Slow down and let me show you an appropriate target," Jasper said as he caught up with her.

"What do you mean appropriate target?" asked Bella halting at the edge of the city.

"Well, although a lot of vampires don't care who they hunt it has always been my policy to only hunt a certain type of human. I do not hunt children or really anybody under thirty unless there are so evil that they just need to be gotten rid of before they cause more harm."

Oh," said Bella in surprise. "Well, you better show me fast before I attack the first human I see for I don't believe I could control myself if I come across just came across someone no matter how young they are or how innocent."

"Which is only natural if you do for not only you now a vampire you are also a newborn, which makes a huge difference, trust me."

Both vampires raced into town and it wasn't long before Jasper sighted a good prospect as there was a man walking down the street, even though it was quite late at night and every one of the other residents of this small town were in bed.

"That man," Jasper pointed at the man who was walking and looking around fugitively. "He's certainly up to no good to be out so late at night, especially at this time of night in such a small town."

Bella saw the man and found that she agreed with Jasper's assessment because nobody who was on legit business was out at 3 AM in the morning.

"Can I have him?" Bella asked eagerly surveying the man with a hungry look.

"Of course," Jasper agreed pleased that Bella was eager for her first drink of blood. Even though she had only awoken a half an hour ago she was of course very thirsty as she'd not had any blood at all yet. "Just wait until he gets closer to the alley so that it won't be as likely that you'll be seen when you drag him into the darkness and feed off him. Not that is likely as late as it is, but you never know so it always pays to be careful just in case."

The two of them were standing in the entrance of an alley deep enough in the shadows that they wouldn't be able to be seen by human eyes, not until it was to late anyway.

It wasn't long before the man was close to the alley and Bella was there waiting for him. As the man passed the alley Bella moved as fast as lightning and grabbed him dragging him deep into the darkness so that it was unlikely she would be seen.

The man immediately began to struggle and scream, but Bella had a very tight grip on his arm and if fact it was hard enough that she was actually crushing his bones to powder. She leaned down and bit into the side of his neck where the pulse point was the strongest and after only a few minutes and the man quit struggling as he was dead.

"Feel better?" asked Jasper as soon as Bella had dropped the corpse to the hard dirt packed ground.

"Yes," Bella said. "I'm still a little thirsty though, but it isn't too bad."

"Which is only natural," Jasper assured her. "We'll find you another prospect and then we can talk."

"Aren't you going to eat?" asked Bella curiosity lacing her voice.

"Yes," Jasper told her, "but let's get you fed first and then we'll worry about me as you are the newborn and I am not."

Bella nodded as that made complete sense and the two of them went looking around for another prospect after taking care of the evidence.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Three hours later just as dawn was lighting up the sky Jasper and Bella finished hunting and headed for the deep woods again so that they could talk without being disturbed.

"So what did you want to talk about?" asked Bella her tone curious as soon as they had sat down on the ground under the trees neither seeming to care that they were getting their clothes dirtier and grass stained.

"Well," Jasper said nervously running a hand through his hair. "Remember when I told you that I changed you because you were dying thanks to that other vampire?"

"Yes," Bella said slowly seeming to be deep in thought. "I take it it is not the usual thing to interrupt another vampire at their meal?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it's not," Jasper agreed sounding calm although he was really very nervous about what Bella's reaction was going to be. "The reason I did though is that sometimes when you are turned into a vampire you develop a talent."

"Talent? Like what?"

"Oh it varies and not all vampires have a talent. Mine is that I can feel other peoples emotions and change those emotions as well."

"You're empathic?" asked Bella in surprise.

"Yes," Jasper agreed surprised that she even knew the word much less what it meant. "My point is though that I have a friend Peter who has this talent for just knowing things and when he gets one of his hunches he is always right so when he told me that I needed to come to that little town where I found you and although he couldn't tell me the reason why, I listened."

"What does that have to do with me?" asked Bella curiously.

"It has to do with you because well as you know it is not the normal thing to interrupt a vampire at a meal and it is also not normal for that other vampire to save that human's life. I should have either left you to die or finished draining you myself instead of changing you into a vampire. Not that there's anything wrong with what I did just that it is not normal for a vampire to do that."

"So why did you then?" asked Bella her hands clasped together in her lap in front of her.

"Because I realized that the reason that Peter had sent me there was because he knew there was something important that I would find and as always he was right."

"And what did you find?" asked Bella not understanding where Jasper was headed with this.

"I found you," Jasper told her gently, but also a little nervously, which was very unusual for him as he was usually very self-confident in himself and his own abilities, but then again he had never confessed his love to a girl before or found his true mate for that matter. Oh it wasn't that he had never had sex, with vampires only of course, but that had been out of need and love didn't enter into it.

Bella looked a little confused so Jasper explained, "I realized that I felt a connection to you the minute I saw you and that was why I scared the other vampire off."

"A connection?" asked Bella her face lighting up as if understanding something that had puzzled her. "You mean this pull I feel towards you?"

"That's it exactly," Jasper told her pleased as he realized how intelligent his mate was as he didn't want a dunce for a partner, but somebody who was just as smart as he was. "Do you know what that pull means?"

"No, what does it mean?" asked Bella.

"It means that we are mates. In other words meant to be together for the rest of our existences."

"Mates? Is that short for soulmates?" asked Bella.

"Yes," Jasper said trying to appear calm, "that describes it perfectly."

"Is that why you saved my life?"

"Not at first no," Jasper said honestly. "At first I didn't realize that we were mates, not until I got a good look at your face and that was after I had chased the other vampire off, but once I did I wasn't about to let you die. If I had I would have followed you into death its as simple as that."

Bella considered that then said, "I've felt this pull you describe ever since I first first woke up, but I thought that it was either my imagination or that it didn't really mean anything specific. It never occurred to me that it could mean anything at all."

"That's not really surprising since you are not even a day old and you were just pulled into the mythological world of vampires without a by your leave, which most humans don't even know exist," Jasper said thinking that this conversation was going much better then he had thought it would, although they weren't out of the woods yet as the saying went.

"So what does this mean for us specifically?" asked Bella who tried not to show that her feelings for Jasper had only grown in the few hours that she had known him. He had been so gently, guiding her to her first meal and Bella knew she had never met anyone quite like him.

"Well for one thing it means if we are forcibly separated we both will be in a great deal of pain as mated couples cannot be more than a few hundred miles apart from each other as it would be like splitting your soul in two. It means, as I mentioned before, if one of us is killed the other will follow his or her mate into death as one cannot live without the other. It is thought to be impossible. Also mated vampires never fall out of love like humans do a lot of times. When a vampire finds a mate it is permanent and eternal. The longer a mated couple is together the deeper the bond between mates gets it until it is so deep and true that it will seem like they know each other's thoughts and feelings without them having to say a word."

"And if I did not return your feelings?" Bella asked curiously

"I'm not precisely sure what would happen if that was the case," Jasper said considering the question seriously even as a spasm of pain went through his body as he realized that he already loved Bella a great deal even though they had only known each other for a few hours. "It is something outside my experience."

"It pains you to even think about being separated from me, doesn't it?" asked Bella shrewdly as she studied Jasper's face and had seen the spasm of pain that had crossed it.

"Yes," Jasper answered honestly. "It is supposed to be impossible for mated couples not to love each other on the other hand we're into new territory as the only information I have to go by is what Peter has told me as he is mated himself."

"Would you ever try to force me to stay with you if I didn't want to?" asked Bella trying to sound merely curious although the question to her was quite serious. She didn't say anything waiting for his answer, but if he said that he would try to force her to stay then she would be gone in a flash as she wasn't about to get herself into an abusive relationship as she had seen too much of that in a small town she had lived in. On the other hand she knew deep down that it would pain her terribly to do so as she was already beginning to care about him and yes perhaps even love him. Part of that was a bond work she knew, but not all of it.

She had often been ridiculed for the fact that she was a romantic by nature while the rest of the girls in the village were more practical. She had been like a duck in a flock of geese, the odd one out and she had had no friends only acquaintances.

"Good God, no! As much as it would pain me to let you go I would not try to hold you if you wanted to go off on your own, once you newborn year was over," Jasper said slowly not sure what the question meant, but willing to answer it as honestly as he could for he sensed that his answer could mean the difference between her staying and leaving. "I'm not saying I would be happy, because that would be a lie, but if that was what you wanted…"

"It's not," Bella assured him immediately when she had studied his face which told her that he was being completely serious. Even though it would pain him he would let her go if that was what she wanted. "I don't want to leave, because I think I'm beginning to love you too. I had to be sure though as I saw way too many abusive relationships when I was still human where the man was very abusive and tried to control his wife or girlfriend. He tried to control what she wore, what she did, what she said, who she talked to or interacted with and then beat her to within a inch of her life if she did anything to displease him. I might not have seen the actual bruises, but I saw how a lot of the women moved afterwards. The moved all stiffly as if they were in pain although their clothes covered the most obvious injuries."

"It was a test?" asked Jasper even though he was sure that's what it had been.

"Yes," Bella admitted and would have blushed if she could have. "You passed with flying colors by the way. I could see how much it pained you to tell me that you would let me go if that is what I wanted, but that is not what I want. I want to get to know you better and see if this bond we supposedly have leads anywhere."

Jasper breathed a sigh of relief as quietly as possible, although he was sure that Bella with her new vampire hearing still heard him.

They sat side-by-side and Jasper dared to put his arm around her shoulder and Bella snuggled up to him without either of them having to say a word.

"So what do you want to do, now?" asked Jasper. "We could sit here for the next hundred years if you really wanted to in between hunting that is."

"Why don't you tell me about yourself," Bella suggested as her head rested very comfortably on Jasper's broad shoulder. "Once you tell me your story I'll tell you what I remember of my human life and we can begin to get to know each other better."

"Yes, that is a good idea," Jasper agreed after a moment of thought. "I warn you though that my past is very violent and I can be as well although not towards you because you are my mate, but towards other people if the situation calls for it."

"Just tell me," Bella urged.

Jasper seemed to come to a decision and began to speak quietly the woods completely silent as all the animals had fled from the presence of what they recognized as two predators and therefore top of the food chain.

It was quite some time later when he was done and by the time he was Bella was in a rage wanting to go hunt Maria down and tear her apart for all she had done to him, which made Jasper feel like he loved Bella even more than he already did if that was at all possible for she already had his heart.

"Love, it's okay, Maria is never going to bother me again and if she does I will tear her apart and let you help," Jasper told her as he got up and kneeled in front of her putting his hands on her shoulders, looking into her bright newborn red eyes. "Maria is no match for me I assure you, which is probably why she hasn't ever come after me as she knows I would very gladly tear her apart and burn the pieces just for the torture she put me through, not to mention many others, for so many decades."

"I want that honor," Bella told him looking and sounding very fierce which pleased Jasper as he didn't want some meek milkmaid for a mate he wanted somebody who had a spine as strong as steel and would not mind the hard and often lonely life of a vampire.

"Then you shall have it," Jasper promised, "that is if she gets caught by us and not someone else."

"Thank you," Bella told Jasper giving him a kiss on the lips.

Jasper was in bliss at the kiss as it was the first such gesture that they had shared.

"Thank you for not treating me like a doll who can't take care of herself or who has to have a man's instructions."

"I would never treat you like that," Jasper protested, "although I am aware that many men would treat a woman like she didn't have the brains of a gnat and couldn't take care of herself at all without him. I think you will find that I'm very different from most men, love, but that's probably only because I have much more experience than any human man and know that women can be tough and fierce as well."

Bella snorted at that and said, "I don't believe for a moment that most men are not aware that a woman is perfectly capable of taking care of herself I just think that most of them have a superiority complex just because they're a little stronger and because they are the ones who mostly bring home the money to feed their families. Also I will admit that some women like to be treated that way, which gives all men a bad impression of what a woman is truly capable of so I suppose it isn't all their fault. I know I was lucky to have that job in that clothing shop as most jobs are held by men, but someday the time will come when women will be respected in the work place just as much as a man and will also be able to get jobs that are reserved for men now."

"I won't deny that you are more than likely right about that," Jasper admitted. "There will come a time where women will be able to get high-paying jobs just as easy as a man although that time won't come for decades, if not longer. I will also admit that the way that most men treat women now is absolutely disgraceful. From what I can remember from my human life my father and mother worked together side-by-side. They were farmers if I remember correctly and my father always treated my mother with respect and not like she was some kind of chattel or just a somebody to bear his children."

"They must've loved each other very much," Bella said.

"Yes, they did and I realize that was probably why my father treated my mother like she was capable of taking care of herself and didn't treat her like a slave or a serf like a lot men do even today."

"Not all of them are like that," Bella admitted after a moment thinking back trying a remember her human life. "I seem to remember a few people that didn't treat women as second class citizens. The couple that ran the general store didn't treat woman like they didn't have a right to express their opinions for example and there were a few others, but it was very few. So what do you want to do now?" asked Bella changing the subject quite abruptly.

"Well, for now I thought we could travel from town to town just to see what it is to see. We need to work on your resistance around humans so that eventually you will be able to go out and be around them safely without letting your instincts overtake you and drain their blood without meaning to."

Bella considered that for a moment, then said, "So you want to work on my resistance to be around humans without draining them unless I want to?"

"That's it exactly. I'm sure you can guess that no human should be aware that vampires are real even if they can't harm us it would make living among them harder."

"Do we actually live among them?" asked Bella in surprise.

"Most don't as it's hard to hide our red eyes if nothing else, but sometimes our kind will interact with humans for one reason or another."

"What do you do in order to hide your red eyes?" asked Bella intrigued.

"Wear a pair of sunglasses, which were only invented just recently," Jasper explained. "They cover up my red eyes nicely if I have to go out among humans and except for the eyes and our corpselike pallor we look just like them. Our completely white skin though is easier to explain away then our red eyes."

"Which only makes sense since we were once human," Bella pointed out inarguably. "So what do we do about clothes, baths and things that will make us look and feel far more civilized? Do we just live out here in the woods? Travel from place to place? Or do we have somewhere that is more comfortable then living in the forest?"

"Well I don't actually own any houses as there was really no need to as I always stay with Peter and Charlotte whenever I feel like I want a roof over my head," Jasper answered.

"So what do you do about clothes or do you wear the same clothes over and over until they're just rags?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow.

"I carry knapsack with me and it always has a few changes of clothes and stuff like that and then when I go into town so I don't look like a rag bag and in this day and age that's important."

"So do you steal your clothes?" asked Bella curiously not seeming at all disturbed by the thought of stealing.

"I buy them actually," said Jasper with a shrug. "Just because I live out here in the wild doesn't mean I don't have plenty of money, because I do. Maria was many things a cutthroat bitch, a vampire psycho, a master manipulator, but she could also be very generous in distributing the loot we gained. I know she thought that she could buy our loyalty, the few vampires she kept alive anyway past their newborn year. Anyway I saw no reason not to take the generosity that was given as it didn't happen often and I made sure to invest as soon as I could so that Maria couldn't ask for it back or if she did she wouldn't get so much as a plugged nickel."

"Then why do wander from place to place if you have so much money? I would think you would want someplace to settle down or at least keep the rain off if nothing else," Bella said.

"Rain doesn't really mean anything to our kind," Jasper told Bella. "Since we are technically dead we don't get sick, we don't age, we are invulnerable to any human made weapon and in fact the only thing that can actually hurt us is one of our own kinds fingernails and teeth. Only vampires are strong enough to rip another of their kind apart and even that won't kill us permanently unless our body parts are burned as we just reassemble eventually."

"So in other words there are a lot of advantages to being a vampire," said Bella as she absorbed what Jasper had said quite calmly.

Jasper checked her emotions and although they were flickering quite fast from one emotion to the other Bella really was truly calm and not at all upset about what he was telling her.

"Quite a few advantages," Jasper agreed, "but of course for every advantage there is a disadvantage as well. We have to drink blood for one, we are unable to eat human food or perhaps it is more accurate to say we can eat it if we need to keep up appearances, but would just have to force ourselves to cough it up afterwards or it would sit in our stomach like lead and also taste like shit going down and even worse coming back up. Also most of our kind is either nomads wandering from place to place or live in small covens out in the middle of nowhere. A very few like Peter and Charlotte have a permanent base of operations, but also travel a great deal and are gone at least a year out of every three or four."

"Where do Peter and Charlotte live?" asked Bella.

"Texas, right outside of Houston. They own a ranch house on about 2,000 acres."

"2,000 acres oh, that's a lot," Bella said in awe as she knew that land was expensive.

Jasper shrugged, "They like their privacy and I'm sure you can guess why. Very few people even know that the house exist as it's far away from the road and humans would have to go out of the way in order to find it."

"So do you plan to settle down somewhere remote or do you plan to have us wander for the rest of our existences?" asked Bella.

"I was never interested in settling down before," Jasper said truthfully. "Why settle down somewhere just to be alone when you can wander from place to place and explore some of the world? I didn't want to stay with Peter and Charlotte to long as I often felt in the way, even though they told me that I was welcome to stay as long as I liked. Now that I've found you though maybe we will settle down somewhere for a few years. Buy ourselves a house somewhere remote where humans won't bother us too much unless they wander way off the beaten track."

Bella lit up at that and said, "That sounds really good actually. I don't mind wandering for a few years if that's what you want, but I would eventually like to settle down somewhere for a while and stop living out of a knapsack."

"Your wish will be granted, dear lady," Jasper promised actually looking forward to settling down now that he had found his Bella. Settling down when he had been alone had never before appealed to him, but now that he had someone to share it with it was a whole different story. Also, although he knew it was probably way to soon to say anything he as well as the the demon part of his personalty known as the major was anxious to make love to her and mark her as his, but as he didn't want to scare her off it was going to have to wait, awhile anyway.

"Oh goody," Bella exclaimed clapping her hands together in excitement kissing Jasper on the cheek causing him to grin. "So where to first?"

"Well first we need to get you a knapsack like mine and buy you a few changes of clothes and a few other things," Jasper decided after moment.

"But how are we going to do that?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow. "I don't dare go out around humans this soon as I'm sure I couldn't control myself no matter how full I am."

"Well I thought that I could leave you at the edge of the forest and go into town myself and get you a knapsack and a few changes of clothes," Jasper replied looking apologetic. "You're right that you don't need to be around humans this soon unless your hunting as that could be very disastrous."

Bella looked disappointed that she wouldn't be going into the nearest town, but she also knew that Jasper was right and that she didn't dare go among humans as she had only been a vampire for less than a day. "I suppose that makes sense," Bella conceded.

Jasper looked relieved that she wasn't going to argue and then asked, "Is there anything specific that you would like me to get while I'm going into town?"

Bella thought about it and then said, "I think I would like some pants in order to travel more comfortably. Dresses can be a pain in the rear, especially for a woman going to be living out in the wild. Pants are just way more convenient, less complicated and way more practical to pull on and off even though I know perfectly well that I would be considered a hoyden for even considering wearing pants not that I really care about that at all."

"There is nothing wrong with a woman wearing pants if you ask me," Jasper said making Bella look relieved that Jasper wasn't going to argue about her dressing like a man. "I always felt that women's fashions were very unfair."

"I never really cared about fashion," Bella told him. "If I thought I could've gotten away with it and kept my job I would've worn pants in the town I grew up in to, but it was so small and old-fashioned that I didn't dare or I would've been ostracized and lost my job as well, which I needed in order to keep eating on a regular basis."

"You'll never have to worry about such things again," Jasper assured her as he pulled her close to him and kissed her all over her face tenderly. Bella sighed and relaxed at his touch seeming to just melt into him. She was falling for Jasper, she realized suddenly and not just falling, but was already so in love with him, that if they were ever separated for whatever reason she wouldn't survive the experience. "Anything you need or want it's yours without question. If you want to wear pants I won't object, and in fact anything you desire all you have to do is tell me and I will make it come true, well so long as it doesn't reveal our species to humans."

"I don't really need or want much," Bella told him touched that Jasper would care so much about her comfort, "just a few changes of clothes, a hairbrush and hand mirror in order to keep my hair in some kind of order, some new shoes, preferably boots, as the shoes I'm wearing aren't really made for hiking though the woods and if we are going to be living out here I need decent footwear. And yes I know I can't get callous or sores anymore, but that doesn't mean I want to be uncomfortable."

Jasper nodded in agreement and said, "There's no reason for either of us to be uncomfortable since we'll be traveling by foot a great deal. I guarantee you that we'll probably go through several pairs of boots just in a year if we run from place to place a lot. I need a new pair to as I've been traveling a lot and haven't bought a pair for over a year."

"Let's see, I also need several blouses to go with those several pairs of pants you are going to get me," Bella said thinking about what else she needed for clothing. "Also maybe some kind of a hair clip to keep the hair out of my face and from getting caught on low hanging tree branches and stuff. I do know how to braid my hair, but I need something to hold it in place if I'm going to do that and even just a rubber band will do as that is what I used to use."

"I also need to get you a pair of sunglasses for when you are ready to go out in public," Jasper said just having thought of it. "You have to have someway to cover up your red eyes for when you're around humans."

"That's a good idea," Bella decided as that was one of the things she hadn't thought of. Her next thought though was that she also needed some underthings but she was embarrassed to mention it to Jasper as she barely knew him despite the fact that they were mates. She didn't doubt for a minute what Jasper had told her about them being mates because she really did feel closer to him and he had to any other person when she had been human including her own parents, but that didn't mean that she wanted to mention the fact that she needed underwear and a bra as what she had on was all ripped and covered in blood as were the rest of her clothes. She supposed she was just going to have to do without them and go flagrante delicto until she could go into town herself and get some.

"That's really about it although I really could use a hot bath every once in awhile, though I suppose we'll be bathing in cold streams for the foreseeable future. Having a hot bath is a luxury I didn't get too often when I was human at least from what I can remember."

"As soon as you can be around humans we'll stay in a hotel for a few days so that you can have that hot bath," Jasper promised.

"I suppose we had better get going," Bella said reluctantly as she got up from the log she was sitting on. "So where you going to get all the things?"

"The next big town should have what we need and that's not too far away at least not for vampires who can run continuously without needing to stop because they are out of breath or have a stitch in their sides."

"Not to mention we are much faster then humans," Bella smirked beyond pleased wit this particular ability.  
"Much, much, faster," Jasper agreed with a smirk of his own giving Bella little kiss on the cheek although he wanted to do so much more, but he was trying his best to be patient and let her set the pace of their relationship. "We can run hundreds of miles in a day if we really wanted to, even if we pace ourselves and we don't need to sleep so as long as we keep ourselves fed we can be on the move constantly."

"Let's get going then," Bella said he looked down at her torn and bloody clothes. "I for one am ready to get into some clean clothes not to mention have a bath even if it's a cold one in a stream."

Jasper took Bella's hand without a word and the two of them started running at a speed that would have been impossible for any human and they weren't even going as fast as they could as they wanted to pace themselves.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"We're pretty close to Denver," Jasper said just two days later as the two of them stopped at the edge of a line of trees. "After I get back we'll go and get us something to eat."

"I suppose you need to go before the shops close," Bella said.

"Yes and luckily for me it's cloudy out so that I can get out while its still daytime."

"Why does it matter if it's cloudy or not?" asked Bella curiously.

"Because a vampire's skin glimmers in the sun that's why," Jasper said and chuckled at Bella's amazed expression. "It's the only other thing besides the red eyes that will give us away to a human," Jasper added, "so we have to go out just at night or on cloudy or rainy days.

"Well why don't you go. The sooner you go the sooner you can get back," Bella said when Jasper didn't move.

"I'm kind of leery about leaving you all by yourself," Jasper said. "You're still a newborn after all and most newborns wouldn't stay put if I told them to and have to be constantly watched."

"I'll be fine," Bella told him. "You've already said more than once and I'm not like most newborns. I promise I'll stay here in the woods until you get back."

"Well, okay," Jasper agreed reluctantly. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Go!" Bella said with a smile. "And don't forget the soap."

Jasper nodded and was gone.

Bella settled down under one of the trees well away from the edge of the woods as she waited for Jasper to return. It was really pretty in these woods as it was the middle of summer and all the trees were in bloom and it wouldn't be until winter when the leaves started to fall and made the trees bare which was still several months away. It wasn't that the weather affected her anymore, just that the cold or heat no longer bothered her. She could still feel the heat, but it just no longer made her sweat like it had when she was human. She could still appreciate the beauty of the woods and remembered having done so when she had been human. She remembered quite well actually how she had always enjoyed all the seasons except perhaps winter when it was so cold and she had always had to little wood for her fireplace.

Bella was so lost in her thoughts she didn't hear the human heartbeats until they were almost on top of her and when she did she didn't have time to even think of hiding not that any human could hurt her and it was just the men's bad luck that she was really thirsty as she hadn't eaten in almost three days.

There were two of them and both had guns slung over their shoulders, which told Bella that they were hunters and probably looking for some game to take home for supper. It was almost to bad that they weren't going to make it home as she was just to thirsty to leave them alone and all the game had fled in any case thanks to her and Jasper as animals could sense if a larger and more dangerous predator was in the area.

"Where is all the game?" asked one man as he looked around. "Usually this forest is full of deer, birds and rabbits and yet we haven't seen a single thing since we entered it."

"I don't know Dave its as if something has driven them off," said the other man who appeared to be about the same age.

"But what could do that?" asked Dave.

"A bear maybe?" the second man suggested.

"Oh come on the Carl, be serious! A bear wouldn't scare off every single piece of game including the birds as they can fly and yet I haven't heard a single scrap of bird song since we entered this part of the woods," said Dave.

"You're right, a bear wouldn't scare off the birds, although it would the deer and the rabbits wouldn't come out of their holes until it had left the area," said Carl.

"So what do you think it could be?" ask Dave as he looked around nervously. "I don't like this at all as it just seems unnatural not to have some animals in this part of the woods."

Before Carl could reply Bella was on the both of them and knocked one of them unconscious and then held the other one around the waist as she bit down on his neck draining him dry in just a few minutes and no matter how much he struggled he couldn't get away and in fact Bella forgetting her own strength crushed the bones of his rib cage to powder causing the man to scream so loudly that Bella had to slap a hand over his mouth to at least muffle the sound so he didn't attract attention not that was likely out in the middle of the woods, but you never knew. When she was done with the first man she woke up the second with a slap to the cheek that was so hard that she heard the sound of bones snap. She could have drained him while he was unconscious, which would have been kinder, but she had found that she liked her meals alive and struggling as that just seemed more of a challenge to her. She didn't remember taking this kind of savage pleasure when she was human, but on the other hand violence was part of human nature and it did give her great pleasure to play with her meals a little first. You would think that this particular vampire trait would worry someone like Bella who had never harmed another human being in her life, but for some reason it did not and in fact sent a surge of savage satisfaction though her entire body.

When she had finished draining the second man she felt much better afterwards although she also knew that she needed at least one more human to feed off of in order to feel completely full, but at least the burning in the back of her throat was gone now.

She felt distantly sorry for the two men she had drained, even if she still felt savage pleasure for ending their lives, as they had just been honest hunters hunting for their supper, but not sorry enough to feel guilty for it for she had been very thirsty and they had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When Jasper got back he would help her dispose of them so that their bones would never be found and it would just be chalked up to an animal having killed them both.

Bella was very glad suddenly that of the two men she had drained one of them hadn't been a child as she knew she would feel guilty for a very long time, if not forever if she did ever kill such an innocent. She knew very well that Jasper has killed more than one child while he was serving that bitch Maria, and still felt guilty about it, but ever since he had gotten free he had made it a policy to never harm a child if at all possible, which she agreed with wholeheartedly.

Children unlike most adults were pure and innocent and that purity and innocence should be preserved if at all possible Jasper felt and Bella wholeheartedly agreed.

Bella lounged back against the trunk of the tree feeling very content waiting for Jasper to return from the town that was just a few miles distance from where she sat.

She had wondered a lot over the last couple of days why they had only kissed just a few times, but she had finally decided that Jasper was letting her set the pace of relationship as she had seen him looking at her more than once with longing in his eyes. She had pretended not to notice, but a little thrill went down her spine every time Jasper so much as gave her one of those looks of longing and it was a doubled every time he touched her if not tripled as little sparks of lightning always flickered along her skin sending her into such spasms of pleasure that she was surprised she was still able to stand afterwards. If Jasper's touches did that to her Bella could hardly wait to see what it felt like for him to make love to her as she had a feeling that it would be spectacular. She would ambush him if she had to and convince him that she was more than ready for him to make love to her and make her his for all time and no it didn't matter that they had only known each other for less than a week as her feelings for him had only deepened in the few days they had known each other and if they didn't make love soon she was going to explode from sexual tension and she didn't give a damn if it was supposedly immoral to have sex outside the holy sacrament of marriage as what had the church ever done for her? One thing that made her love him so much was that he always treated her like an equal and didn't expect her to be just a feeble female that was more trouble than she was worth and who didn't know how to take care of herself without him. For that alone she would have loved him, but it was many other things besides. Being treated as an equal by a male was as heady as the strongest wine known to humans for she had never before been treated by a man as anything less than a second or third class citizen who had the brains of a dog.

Jasper not only treated her as an equal, but also like she had a brain and also that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself without a man's interference. Jasper had managed to convey in a few days they had known each other that he would never try to control her actions and that they would make decisions together so that she never felt as if she didn't have an opinion or that her opinion wasn't worth listening to.

Bella felt free to talk to Jasper about things that she had never voiced outside her own mind before because of the fact that she would've been either ridiculed or called mad if she had.

She had told Jasper that she loved to read, but she did not have very many books and had read the same ones over and over again. A lot of women in that little town actually couldn't read or figure beyond the basics, but her father had always believed that being able to read, write and figure opened the doors and opportunities that she otherwise wouldn't have and so she had been taught how to do all three by her mother who was a schoolteacher. All the children went to school actually though most of them, especially the girls hadn't done as well on their lessons as she had not because they weren't intelligent, but just because they weren't interested and therefore didn't study like they should. Bella had always hoped to be able to go to college although she knew that many colleges wouldn't accept a woman as a student and even if they did they didn't give out degrees to them.

Oh sure women could become teachers or even doctors but they would have to go very far from home and have the money in order to do so as those colleges were far away from the small town she had grown up in and expensive.

She had not told Jasper this and she probably never would, but she had been very slowly starving as the shop she worked at didn't bring in much money. She had often wandered where her next meal would be coming from, and had just barely managed to scrape out a living by subsisting more on vegetables and bread then meat and in fact she rarely she saw meat at all.

Well there was no point in dwelling on it as her life had changed completely and she no longer have to worry where her next meal was coming from, for as long as there were humans there would always be food and since their were millions of humans on this Earth she didn't think she had to worry about running out of food.

Suddenly she was shocked out of her thoughts as she smelled Jasper entering the woods. Bella thought that Jasper smelled absolutely fantastic and she would be perfectly happy to smell his scent for the next few thousand years.

"Bella?" Jasper called in a normal tone of voice knowing that she would be able to hear him.

"Here!" Bella called as she rose gracefully to her feet, not at all stiff as a human would be from sitting on the ground for so long, and raced towards Jasper as he was walking towards the clearing where he had left her.

Bella pounced on him not caring that he had two knapsacks one over each shoulder and peppered his face with kisses as she had missed him dreadfully.

"Miss me?" Jasper laughed as he removed his sunglasses and dropped the two knapsacks to the ground so that he could pick her up and swing her around as he was very glad to see her.

"I would think that would be obvious," Bella told him when she finally stopped kissing his face and kissed his lips instead.

Jasper now that his hands were free took Bella into his arms and gave her a very heartfelt, tender kiss even as he squeezed her around the middle causing all the air to go right out of her.

"I was afraid you'd be gone by the time I got back," Jasper told her as soon as he had finished squeezing her.

"Never would I leave you," Bella assured him as she kissed him on the lips again while also running a hand tenderly through his long, curly blond hair. "I'll always be right here whenever you have to go off on your own and if you did decide to leave me I would track you down."

"I'll never go anywhere unless you're coming to," Jasper assured her as he gave her another tender kiss silently grateful that she was his. He had been alone for so long and Bella lit up his life even though they had only known each other for a few days. "You are my life. I could never even think of leaving you."

"Well, good, because that just means I won't have to track you down and tear you apart for leaving me," Bella teased him.

Jasper chuckled at that and kissed Bella on the forehead before releasing her reluctantly. He wanted her so bad that it was getting harder and harder to resist taking her without her consent.

If he didn't bury the general in her soon he was going to go insane from sexual frustration as his cock had been as hard as a rock ever since he met her and the more time they spent together the harder it became until he wasn't sure how much more he could take. Also it didn't help that the major was struggling against the bars of his cage wanting to be released so that he could make Bella his eternally and forever, but since Bella had yet to indicate that she was ready for such a step he was determined to wait.

"Why are your eyes red?" asked Jasper as he finally noticed the color of his mate's eyes, which were no longer black.

"I was wondering if you want to notice that," Bella said calmly. "And no I didn't leave the forest," she added which she knew was going to be Jasper's next question. "I was just sitting under a tree minding my own business waiting for you get back when I heard two human heartbeats and it was only a few seconds later when I heard two men's voices talking about how the forest was so quiet and wondering where all the deer, rabbits, and birds were. Both men were hunters as they had rifles slung over their shoulders. I didn't even have to move very far as they came right into the clearing where I was sitting. I pounced on them as fast as a striking snake and I had one unconscious and the other one in a grip of iron. I drained the one that was struggling and then the other one after I slapped him awake of course. I was so thirsty that I'm sure I couldn't have resisted even if I wanted to."

"What did you do with the bodies?" asked Jasper calmly after hearing Bella's story. He couldn't really be upset with her as she was only doing what was natural for a vampire to do, especially a newborn and she had needed to feed. Besides it's not like the two men had been children and so what she had done was perfectly right.

"I left them in that little clearing as I didn't have anything I could dig a hole and bury them with so I was hoping you did."

"I always carry a spade with me just in case I bury my kills in dirt," Jasper said as he headed towards the clearing after picking up the two knapsacks and swinging then back over his shoulders Bella following. "I should've thought about getting you a spade to, but I didn't."

Jasper mentally kicked himself for forgetting something that was so obvious and he promised himself that he would get her a spade in the next town so that she could bury her bodies without having to use her hands.

"You're not upset with me are you?" Bella asked a little anxiously.

"No, why would I be?" asked Jasper in genuine surprise.

"Well those hunters were kind of young 21 or 22 at most and you said you try not to hunt anybody under 30."

"Bella, you are a new vampire there's no way you could've resisted killing them once they came into your territory," Jasper told her gently putting his arms around her in a gentle hug. "Besides just because I prefer not to kill anyone under 30 doesn't mean it doesn't happen sometimes, whether by accident, or because I can't control myself for some reason, or because they see something they shouldn't or just because they're plain evil and really need to be gotten rid of. Also I have many more years of experience then you do, which makes a difference, trust me. Of course my talent also comes in really useful when hunting since I can read emotions and know what humans are feeling so that is also an advantage."

Jasper made sure that he sent Bella his emotions so that she knew he was telling the truth and that he was very proud of her and always would be no matter how many accidents she had.

Bella relaxed at Jasper's words and the emotions he sent to her because she knew that it was impossible to lie with your feelings while it was very easy to lie with words.

"Now, let's go bury those two bodies, shall we?" Jasper said as he headed towards the clearing again where the two men's bodies lay, "and so you are aware I will never be disappointed in you for doing what comes naturally to our kind, even if you killed a child by accident. It takes time to learn control and for some of our kind it takes longer than with others, so don't expect it to happen overnight. You really are doing very well all things considered and much better than any other newborn I've ever changed and as you know I've changed quite a few in my time. It's as if you were born to live the vampire life."

"Perhaps I was," Bella said as she watched Jasper dig a grave rapidly in the forest ground after putting the two knapsacks high up on a tree limb to keep them out of the way.

Once Jasper finished digging the grave Bella dumped one of the bodies into it and then went to get the other one as she figured it was only fair that she did that part since Jasper had dug the grave. Once the two bodies were dumped unceremoniously into the freshly dug grave Jasper rapidly refilled the hole and patted it down.

"There!" Jasper exclaimed wiping his hands off on a handkerchief that he had in his pocket. "No one will ever know that there is a grave here and if the bodies are ever discovered they'll be nothing but bones and unidentifiable with no way to prove that they did not die of natural causes."

"Now that's taken care you and me have something to discuss," Bella said trying to hide how nervous she really was.

"What's that?" asked Jasper with a raised eyebrow not letting on that he could feel her nervousness.

"I want you," Bella told him boldly. "I want you to take me and make me yours unless you don't want me as badly as I want you."

Jasper's eyes widened as he caught Bella's implication immediately. "I do want you, so much. In fact my cock has been so hard since I met you that I've had a hard time resisting just taking you, but I wasn't about to force myself on you and was trying to be patient until you indicated you were ready for that step. Once we make love we will be bound together permanently and forever. If that is what you want and you are sure you are ready then I am very eager to fulfill your request. More than eager I assure you."

Jasper sent Bella every one of his feelings of love, lust and desire for her body and watched as her eyes darkened from the red of freshly fed to black immediately.

"Then take me!" Bella ordered harshly her desire coming off her in waves so strong that they practically knocked Jasper off his feet.

"Gladly!" Jasper replied immediately using vampire speed to get out of his clothes.

"I think that we don't need to worry about ripping what remains of your clothes to shreds," said Jasper as he stood within an inch of his mate and let her see the desire and lust in his eyes, which caused Bella to get even wetter then she already was down in her pussy.

"I can smell your arousal and that is good as that means you are already wet and slick for me and I won't have to prepare you. I don't think I could control myself long enough to do that in any case since I have been wanting you ever since we met."

"I've been wanting you to, for days," Bella said her voice lower and huskier then normal with desire and passion.

"Well, since we are in mutual agreement let's get started shall we?"

"Yes you have my permission to take me, whenever you please and I hope it will be as often as possible."

"Oh it will be," Jasper promised her, his voice strained. "We will be making love so much that you will sometimes wonder if we ever do anything else. One of the great things about being a vampire is that you never get to tired to do anything and also you don't need to sleep, eat every few hours, or use the bathroom like a human would."

"I am eager to find out," Bella said. "Very eager."

"Very well then. This first time is going to be rough," he warned her his voice harsh with suppressed passion. "And since you are a virgin I am going to have to do something first that is going to be quite painful, but it is necessary."

"What are you going to do?" asked Bella just a little apprehensively, despite the fact that she wanted Jasper inside of her as soon as possible.

"Once I break your virginity barrier I am going to use my tongue coated with venom to go all around that area. The reason I am going to do this is because the venom will cause scarring so that your barrier can't grow back. I'm afraid vampire venom stings like hell, but it will be easier in the long run so that I don't have to push through your barrier and hurt you every time we make love and Bella I guarantee we'll be making love a lot."

"You think I'm going to object to that?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow the desire increasing a hundredfold in her eyes. "We can make love as much as you want and in fact I might just attack you when you're least expecting it. Besides there's no reason to repeat yourself as you just said something very similar just minutes ago and I do happen to have a perfect memory now and remember when you said we will be making love constantly. I certainly won't try stop you from ever making love to me I guarantee you."

"Let's get started then," Jasper said unable to wait a second longer now that Bella had given him permission to do to her whatever he liked. "Lay down, on the ground," Jasper ordered his voice still harsh with suppressed passion.

Bella did as ordered without hesitation and lay down in the middle of the forest clearing on her back not caring that she was very near where the two dead bodies had just been.

"Let's get rid of these clothes," Jasper said as he ripped what remained of her clothes right off her and let them flutter to the ground not caring where the the scraps of cloth landed.

"You are so beautiful," Jasper said sincerely as he gazed down at his mate's exquisite body practically salivating as he took in all her curves and her small, firm breasts. "And you are all mine for the rest of our time on this Earth and you will never want another man once I am done with you."

Jasper knelt down and put his knees in between Bella's thighs to keep her legs apart for what he was about to do so she wouldn't be able to close them until he was done.

"Are you ready?" asked Jasper even though the general was begging to be buried in Bella's tight, wet, hot body.

"More than ready," Bella assured him reaching up a hand to run it through his long, curly blonde hair gently and then getting a good strong grip on some of the locks.

Jasper nodded not speaking knowing that he didn't have time to warm her up as he was holding onto his control by the thinnest of threads. All the foreplay that usually went along with making love was going to have to wait until after he had buried himself in her body. He had been wanting her even while she was transforming into a vampire and he had thought he'd have to wait at least until her newborn year was over before they made love at all, which would have been quite painful for him, but he probably could've done it, although he was sure it would have taken every ounce of discipline he had possessed. That he was about to make love to her for the first time and she was less than a week old was a gift that Jasper was going to have to find some way to repay.

Jasper positioned the general at his mate's entrance and without ceremony shoved himself inside while at the same time he leaned down and took her lips for his own. As he was kissing her he also ran his hands up and down her body almost becoming lost in bliss as Bella's body was so soft under his hands that he thought he had entered the gates of heaven itself.

Jasper rammed into her only twice before he broke her barrier causing Bella to give a muffled whimper of pain even as her body reacted to Jasper's kiss and the touch of his gentle hands.

Jasper stilled and made himself wait for the pain in Bella's emotions to fade before he started moving in her again and it didn't take long for either of them before they both reached their climaxes and exploded. Jasper emptied his seed into her and Bella groaned as the sexual tension coiled within her body finally got it's long delayed release.

Once their orgasms had subsided Jasper scooted himself down her body until her pussy was within easy reach of his tongue. He immediately stuck his venom coated tongue up into where he had broken her barrier making sure to run it all along where it would reform if given half a chance.

Bella whimpered biting her lower lip so hard that if she had been human she would have bitten it through even while her hands tightened in Jasper's hair. Jasper had been right in saying that the venom would sting, but he had forgotten to mention that it would also burn and the inside of her pussy felt like it was being roasted slowly over an open flame while being stung by a whole hive of bees.

Finally after what seemed like forever, but was really just a few minutes the stinging and burning sensations faded and Bella was finally able to relax.

"I'm really sorry that I had to cause you such pain, my mate," Jasper apologized sincerely looking upset that he had hurt the woman he loved even though it had been a necessary pain.

"So make it up to me," Bella suggested rising up enough to kiss his lips softly.

Jasper seemed to absorb the kiss and the love behind it and when they finally broke apart Jasper seemed happier and more content.

"Now that we have relieved the tension so to speak I can make love to you the way I really want," Jasper said smiling down at her.

"So are you going to do it or just talk about it?" asked Bella her eyes telling him that she wanted him to help her forget the pain she had just endured.

Jasper didn't reply verbally and lay down on top of her again and immediately started kissing, licking and nipping her all over her face. He nibbled at the side of her neck on the same side where he had put some of his venom into her bloodstream and then gradually moved down to her breast, which he licked and nibbled causing Bella to groan and whimper with pleasure this time instead of pain.

"Like that do you?" murmured Jasper rhetorically as he could feel her emotions, which were ones of pleasure and desire and were pulsing so strongly that he probably would have been knocked unconscious from the force of them if he had been human.

Bella only whimpered so lost in pleasure was she, although she did manage to open her eyes and look at him pleadingly begging him silently to not stop what he was doing.

Jasper gave a low, deep chuckle and assured her with his talent that he had no intention of stopping and continued to do things with his lips, tongue as well as his fingers that made Bella whither underneath him and beg for more. Jasper stroked the inside of Bella's pussy with a couple of his fingers enjoying the delicious wetness that surrounded them while at the same time he continued to kiss and lick his way down her body until he reached her hip bone which he happily nibbled on, covering every square inch of it with his lips, teeth and tongue. His Bella smelled absolutely delectable when she was not aroused, but when she was her scent changed somewhat and Jasper took a deep breath imprinting the scent of how his mate smelled when she was into his memory.

As soon as Jasper touched her on her hip there Bella gasped arching her back that if Jasper hadn't been holding her down she felt as if she could have flown up into the sky or at least it seemed that way.

Jasper noticed her reaction and made a mental note to himself the skin of Bella's right hip was extra sensitive to his touch. Finally the two fingers that Jasper had inside Bella's pussy hit the G spot and she screamed as her climax, which had been building for some time, hit her suddenly and it was then when she was lost in pleasure that Bella's instincts took over and she bit down on Jasper's left shoulder instinctively while Jasper who was more in control of himself did the same except on her right breast. By the time the waves of pleasure subsided it seemed like an eternity later and even after the feelings faded little spasms of pleasure still made their way through her body for a long time afterwards.

"Why did we bite each other?" asked Bella as she examined the mark on her breast, which had already stopped stinging.

"This is the way that vampires mark each others true mate," Jasper told her calmly. "The bond between us is now fully activated, instead of partially activated like it was before. The instinct to mark another vampire only appears if that vampire has found their true mate. If a vampire pair are only lovers and not true mates that urge to bite will not appear, which means that eventually they will separate for one reason or another."

Bella listened to his explanation calmly and nodded in understanding when he was done.

"All right, I understand, I just wish you had warned me that was going to happen though as it was quite startling."

"I didn't even think about the fact that was going to happen," Jasper admitted sheepishly. "It never even occurred to me actually. You're right I should have warned you so you wouldn't be so scared."

"I wasn't scared precisely," Bella protested shaking her head in denial. "I was startled yes as I said just a second ago, but not scared as I knew you would never hurt me."

Bella curled up in his lap not bothering to look around at the half destroyed clearing and Jasper leaned back against one of the tree that had not been uprooted while they had been making love. Vampires had been known to destroy things while in the throes of lovemaking, such as, trees, furniture, artwork, like expensive vases if they were knocked off their tables. Jasper looked around the clearing and saw that at least half a dozen trees had been knocked over not that he cared in the least as making love with Bella had been the best gift he had ever received in all his years of existence and he planned on repeating the experience as often as possible.

At least the knapsacks were intact because he had put them on the branch of a tree that luckily hadn't been knocked over during their lovemaking.

It wasn't that there was anything breakable in them, but who wanted the soap that he had bought to get smooshed and all over Bella's new things? It wasn't that it couldn't be washed out, but still he had gone to some trouble to get his mate some soap that smelled like roses instead of just any old soap so he didn't want his gift ruined.

"So can I see what you got me?" asked Bella finally after over an hour of the two of them cuddling together under one of the few remaining trees in the clearing that hadn't been knocked over doing their lovemaking. Luckily they were far enough away from civilization that trees falling to the ground with tremendous crashes was unlikely to be heard by human unless they happened to be within a few miles of where the sound originated from. Not that he and Bella couldn't have handled the problem if some human did come to investigate, but still it was just better if no one did.

Jasper didn't particularly want to move as he was very comfortable sitting under the tree with a very naked Bella on his lap. In fact every time she moved even a little the sensation of her bare skin against his was so sensual that it nearly made him come again right there.

"I suppose," Jasper sighed dramatically. "I'm so comfortable though and you are mean and cruel to make me move." Jasper let Bella know by his tone of voice that he wasn't serious, which made Bella giggle a little.

"Come on up, lazybones!" Bella exclaimed laughing hopping off his lap and tugging gently as she knew very well that she was stronger than him on his hand to get him to come to his feet.

"If I must," Jasper sighed dramatically letting Bella tug him to his feet again feeling very lighthearted and free. Bella brought so much joy into his life just from her mere presence that had quite often been lonely before.

"So what did you get me?" asked Bella excitedly jumping up and down so hard that she caused the trees to shake.

"See for yourself," Jasper said taking down Bella's from the tree branch having to jump up a little to do so as the branch was just out of reach over his head.

Bella could have done the same thing of course as all vampires could jump very high, but Jasper didn't want her trying it until after her newborn year was over as she could literally destroy the knapsack and all its contents if she wasn't careful. Jasper didn't mind helping Bella put on her clothes or carrying her knapsack for her until she completely got ahold of her strength so that she could do it herself and in fact he was sure it would be a very pleasurable experience for both of them. The last thing that Jasper wanted was to have Bella so dependent on him that she depended on him for every little thing. No, what he wanted was for Bella to be as independent as he was and able to do some activities on her own if she wanted, like shopping for instance or just go off by herself for a few hours for some peace and quiet.

It was true that they wouldn't be able to be apart by more then a couple of hundred miles or they were asking for trouble, but that also didn't mean that neither of them didn't occasionally need their privacy just like all couples married or not did.

Jasper unpacked the knapsack one item at a time and showed each to Bella. There were a couple of pairs of jeans that appeared to at least be close to her size, a couple of casual blouses that looked as if they were made out of silk, a silver backed mirror and hairbrush with white bristles, a silver hair clip for holding her hair out of her face shaped cleverly like a rose, several pair of socks that were thicker and obviously meant for boots, then out of the bottom of the bag came a pair boots themselves. These boots were brown leather and had only a little bit of a heel and would not make her taller, which Bella thought was wise considering they'd be traveling through the forest a lot of the time and she would be less likely to trip over a tree root or something, not that that was likely considering how she now moved with liquid grace.

Last, but not least were the items she hadn't mentioned because she had been to embarrassed, several pairs of underwear that also looked to be made of silk, like the blouses.

"Oh, Jasper this is to much," Bella protested trying to contain her embarrassment as she fingered the soft silk of the underwear gingerly so as not to rip them. The silk was so soft that running her hands over it was almost sensual and made for a very pleasurable sensation to run through her body.

"I'm not done yet," Jasper said and produced a bar of soap and a washcloth from the bottom of the knapsack that the packaging said smelled like roses. "This soap is specially made by a woman who runs a small shop selling nothing but soap with different scents. I've always liked the smell of roses and so I when I saw this I just knew I had to get it for you."

"Jasper you are the most thoughtful man I have ever known," Bella told him sincerely giving him a very sultry kiss as thanks.

"Anything for you," said Jasper as soon as they had broken the kiss. Jasper would have blushed if he had been able as he was not used to being thanked by anyone much less a woman. It wasn't that he had never had sex before with other vampires including Maria, but he had cared for none of them the way he cared for and loved Bella. Bella completed him in a way that he had never before known in all his long years. It was as if a part of his long silent heart that he hadn't even known he was missing was finally completely filled.

"How did you know I needed underwear?" asked Bella not looking at him at all as she asked the question.

"Well I did rip your only pair off you," Jasper said smirking as he remembered the incident of just a couple of hours ago. "And you didn't mention needing any so I figured you were just to embarrassed to. I thought it wouldn't hurt to get you a few pairs just in case, although I got a lot of strange looks when I went into the woman's section to buy your things especially the underwear until I told the saleswoman they were for my wife who was back home taking care of the house while I traveled on business."

"I'm surprised you had the courage to even enter the woman's section of a store," Bella told him admiringly, which Jasper basked in. "Not many men would have you know as they would have been to embarrassed to buy a woman clothes much less new underthings even if they had thought of it in the first place."

"It doesn't matter to me if humans look at me strangely as they would do that anyway thanks to me being a vampire. Most humans avoid our kind unless we try to deliberately attract their attention for whatever reason. The woman that helped me pick out your clothes kept trying to cuddle up to me like a cat in heat even though I said I was married. That's part of the problem of using our species natural attractiveness to get the attention of a human as it seems to temporarily short circuit their instincts that normally causes them to avoid us."

"Which is useful as it makes it easier to feed off them as they would follow you anywhere you led even if that was into a very dark alley," said Bella catching on immediately not seeming at all disturbed that another woman had tried to steal her mate from her if only because she had no doubt of his loyalty or faithfulness to her.

"Exactly," said Jasper checking her emotions just to make sure he hadn't upset her.

"And if you're wondering if I'm upset and jealous that that woman had the atrocity to try to cuddle up to you even after you told her you were married the answer is no. If I had an ounce of doubt about your loyalty and faithfulness to me then yes I would be very jealous and go track the woman down to drain her dry, but since I don't I'm not. I know who your heart belongs to and I know as vampires we are unnaturally attractive to make it easier to lure our prey and that sometimes that causes problems."

"That's very mature of you," Jasper said as he gave her a hug reveling in the feel of her naked body against his.

Bella shrugged. "You tend to mature really fast when your mother dies on you when you are ten and your father when you are seventeen. I've been responsible for myself for the last six years and had no help from the townspeople who regarded my as strange and possibly dangerous. Even before my father died I was largely responsible for looking after myself as well as him as my mother's death just seemed to suck something vital right out of him and he could barely make himself get out of bed in order to go into work. Besides I wasn't there to see her rubbing herself all over you and if I had been it would have been a who different story altogether I guarantee you. If had seen her trying to steal you from me I would have made a meal off her, especially when you had already told her you weren't available. She sounds like a hussy, someone who pushes themselves on men whether married or not and I'll have no trouble making a meal off someone like that if I ever happen to catch them at it I assure you."

Bella sounded quite fierce Jasper thought as the last sentence came out as more of a growl that made the general stand at attention and a strong surge of lust to go through his loins.

"And I would be happy to let you," said Jasper pushing Bella against a tree as he wanted her so bad that his erection was quite painful.

Jasper made sure that Bella could feel as well as see his erection and let her know that he was going to take her and that he wasn't going to bother asking permission as she had already given it to him when they had first made love just hours ago. "I'm going to take you," Jasper told his mate his voice gruff and demanding. "I'm going to make you orgasm so hard that you still be feeling waves of pleasure an hour from now."

Bella was perfectly happy to let Jasper do what he would and managed to lean up enough to kiss his lips, tenderly and yet passionately at the same time even as he shoved the general inside his mate's entrance not even taking the time to prepare her for he knew that if he didn't relieve himself soon he was going to literally explode. Jasper's hands moved up and down her body finally coming to rest on her breast and starting to pinch both her nipples in between his thumbs and forefinger even as he thrust the general into her again and again.

Bella moaned not seeming to mind the little pain that Jasper caused by shoving himself into her so hard for despite the pain her whole body was being subsumed by wave after wave of pleasure. She felt as if her whole body was being consumed by lightning as little sparks of electricity seemed to dance along her skin and she didn't care a bit.

Bella wasn't sure how it happened but suddenly Jasper was laying on his back on the ground and she was somehow braced on her legs moving up and down so that Jasper's penis entered her every other second. The friction this caused was incredible and somehow Bella knew she was going to be doing this again. The waves of pleasure increased tenfold and became so powerful that Bella knew if she had been human she would have been knocked unconscious and as it was she was still a little dizzy. Jasper gave a low, continuous moan, but managed to retain enough of his sanity to reach up and give Bella's very sensitive nub a little rub that caused her eyes to go wilder with passion.

"Fuck me harder, my mate!" Jasper ordered gruffly rubbing her nub even more roughly then before. "Harder!"

Bella obeyed immediately and started moving even faster up and down until Jasper could contain himself no more and spurted his seed into her in a long thick stream that seemed to go on forever. Finally Jasper's cock was empty and Bella who had climaxed at the same time went limp and collapsed onto Jasper's chest purring softly in satisfaction. Jasper just laid there cradling his mate tenderly in his arms unable to do anything else for the moment for little waves of pleasure were still going through him and he felt so sated that he wasn't sure he could move even if he wanted to which he didn't.

"Wow!" Bella purred softly as she lay on Jasper's chest.

"Yeah, wow!" Jasper repeated Bella's words. "I've never had such intense orgasms in my life and that's the truth. Of course I've never been in love or mated before either and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it."

"Probably," Bella agreed. "How did you manage to flip us so that you were underneath me and I was riding your cock?" asked Bella curiously. "I didn't even feel or see you do it."

"I know you were too lost in pleasure," said Jasper smirking in satisfaction, pleased that he could bring his mate so much pleasure and himself as well.

"I've been meaning to ask you why didn't you buy me a bra? And why in the world did you buy me silk panties and blouses instead of the normal cotton?" asked Bella curiously after a long time of contented silence where they just lay together contently waiting for the little waves of pleasure that still ran through them to subside completely. "I know very well that silk anything isn't cheap and this is some of the softest silk I've ever heard of or had the pleasure of touching."

Jasper didn't respond at first and then after gathering his thoughts he said, "Because I know very well what kind of environment you grew up in. The kind of environment that can't afford things like silk or really anymore than the barest essentials that you needed to survive. That kind of life isn't any kind of living at all in my opinion and I just wanted to give you something besides the bare essentials that are necessary for survival. To give you a little pleasure and I think I succeeded as I saw how your face lit up when you saw the silk underwear. Besides what woman doesn't just love having things made out of silk instead of just plain, ordinary everyday materials? As for why I didn't buy you a bra, well for one thing I didn't know your bra size and for another you don't really need one anymore as your breasts will never start to sag since you can no longer grow older. Why wear one if you don't have to as I've always thought they looked distinctly uncomfortable."

"You're right," Bella admitted as she turned her head to give him a kiss on the nose. "And thank you. I never would have even thought about buying anything made out a silk as I know that it is hideously expensive and I could barely put food on the table as it was. As for the bra I never thought about the fact that my breasts will no longer start to sag so you're right I don't need one even though I would be considered a hoyden for not wearing one."

"You're very welcome," Jasper told her pleased that Bella hadn't made a fuss about him buying such expensive things. "And who cares what other people, especially humans think anyway? They have no right to tell you what to do and who cares about modern conventions as to us humans are nothing more than a food source anyway. Oh by the way, expect to be spoiled from here on out. I plan on showering you with so many gifts that you'll wonder what you are going to do with them all, that's a promise and nothing less then you deserve."

"There's no need to do that, I'm perfectly happy with just you and a few essentials," Bella protested halfheartedly and Jasper who was very tuned into her emotion knew that she didn't really mean it as he could tell that she secretly had always lusted after pretty things, but had never had the money to buy any of it or a boyfriend to give her any.

"Don't bother protesting," Jasper told her as he ran a hand through her waist length brown hair tenderly causing her to purr softly at his touch. "If I see something that I think you will like I'm going to buy it for you and that's the end of it. And no it doesn't matter one iota how expensive it is," Jasper added when he saw that Bella was about to protest again. "It could be something as inexpensive as a movie ticket to as expensive as a house, car or piece of fine jewelry. I have more money than I could ever spend even if I lived to be a million years old I assure you. It pleases me to spend some of it on the woman I love, who is also my mate and besides I've never had anyone to spend my money on before, except myself."

Bella gave in after that with a sigh. "You are one stubborn bastard, Jasper Whitlock did anyone ever tell you that?"

Jasper smirked in satisfaction knowing that he had won and not seeming to care that Bella had just cussed at him even though it was unusual for a woman in this day and age to use such foul words, especially a well brought up woman from a small town. "Yes I was aware I can be as stubborn as the day is long. I assure you that when I want something I don't give up until I get it so you might as well just give in and save yourself some trouble, which reminds me..." Jasper voice trailed of as if a thought had just occurred to him although he had been planning this ever since Bella had started her change into a vampire, but he couldn't let Bella know that as she was bound to protest that it was to much.

"Reminds you of what?" asked Bella just a little curiously.

"That it is customary among our kind to give a newborn vampire enough money to get started in this life so while I was in Denver I opened up an account in your name and put $10 million into it."

"$10 million dollars?" asked Bella her newborn red eyes wide in astonishment. "Are you insane? $10 million dollars is a ridiculous sum of money, especially in this economic slump."

"Not really," Jasper said calmly while sending those emotions to his mate causing her to calm down considerably. "Haven't you ever heard of inflation? Stuff is more expensive nowadays then it was back when I was born and will only continue to get more so as taxes increase the amount of money necessary to buy something. Besides you've got to remember that vampires are practically immortal as it is very hard to kill one of our kind and $10 million will not last you for the rest of your existence, which is why I'm going to teach you how to invest that money so that you never run out."

"Why do I need money though, especially so much of it, when you're always around to pay for things?" asked Bella.

"Because someday you're going to want to get out on your own and I won't be with you," Jasper said calmly. "Say you want to go to the shops by yourself for instance and what would you do if you didn't have money in order to pay for your purchases? I know very well that everybody needs some time just to be alone occasionally with their own thoughts no matter how much they love their spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or mate. Being able to separate yourself from the person that you love sometimes is essential to that couples happiness and believe me I know. I often thought I would go insane when I was Maria's lackey so to speak as I had very little privacy or time alone just to decompress. Time alone is something that humans need to do quite regularly or have nervous breakdowns and after all we were once human, so the same thing applies to us."

Bella thought about what Jasper had said and then decided it made sense. "Alright," Bella finally agreed. "You're right, I know you are, because from what I can remember from my human life I often just went to my room in order to be by myself as having my parents always around tended to get on my nerves very quickly, especially the older I got. I loved my parents, I did, but sometimes I don't think they really understood where I was coming from when I tried to explain some things to them as both of them were very old-fashioned. It's funny, in a strange kind of way, but you seem to understand me better than my own parents did. You seem to instinctively know when I want something even when I don't say anything to you about it or know know how I'm feeling or even what I'm thinking sometimes."

"Part of that's my talent at work," Jasper told her. "The other part of it though is that I've been around a long time and spent a lot of time around humans, enough anyway to be familiar with human nature. As for being able to read your thoughts, well, sometimes I can, as that's the mate bond at work. If you really concentrated you would be able to tell what I was thinking as well."

"So you can read my thoughts?" asked Bella not sure she liked the idea.

"It's not precisely being able to read your thoughts," Jasper assured her, "it's more along the lines of just knowing sometimes what you're thinking from your body language without actually needing to hear any words. Mates are supposed to become so close that it should eventually be impossible to hide anything from them at all even if you were trying to surprise them. I'm not precisely sure how the mate bond works, as the only mated couple I know of are Peter and Charlotte and they are so close that they seem to be able to read each others thoughts although Peter has assured me on numerous occasions that he's not a telepath. Peter believes that just being one soul in two bodies allows you to know things about your mate or that perhaps the mate bond is giving off some kind of invisible signals that let's you know what the other needs or wants and it won't work for vampire couples that aren't true mates."

Bella thought about that then nodded and Jasper released a sigh of relief that he had clearly some of her fears to rest.

"So where to now?" asked Bella, changing the subject.

"Now we continue our journey," Jasper said.

"So where are we heading next?" asked Bella.

"Wherever the hell we want it doesn't really matter," Jasper said. "We could even go over to Europe if you wanted although we would have to take a ship in order to get there and I don't believe you are quite ready to be around that many humans for weeks at a time without attacking them."

"There are airplanes," Bella suggested.

"Airplanes just aren't reliable or at least not for long distance journeys. I'm sure the technology will improve a lot in the next few years to where they can go cross Atlantic in a matter of hours but it just isn't there yet."

"It's not like an airplane crash would kill us," Bella said.

"True, but I still want to wait until the humans improve the technology to where it is reliable to cross oceans without as many accidents.

"Couldn't we swim the ocean then?" asked Bella. "It isn't like we can drown."

"We could," Jasper admitted slowly. "It would take us days though as the ocean depending on which one we're talking about is very big but you're right we don't need to sleep and we can't drown and we don't get tired so it is possible. We wouldn't be able to take anything with us though except what we were wearing, so maybe it's just better if we stay in the States for a few years."

"I suppose you're right," Bella admitted. "I've always wanted to visit Europe though, but figured I'd never be able to since I never saw myself as having the money to do something like that."

"And we will eventually be able to do that," Jasper said.

"I suppose we had better get dressed and get going," Bella said no particularly wanting to move as she was perfectly comfortable right where she was.

"I suppose," Jasper said just as reluctant.

"So when are you going to start teaching me control around humans?" asked Bella as she rose from where she was laying on Jasper's chest not seeming to be at all concerned that she was buck naked and she wasn't since there was no one out here, in the middle of the woods, to see her except her mate as the animals had fled and Jasper was welcome to look at her naked body anytime he wanted to. What was surprising though was that she didn't feel the least bit self-conscious at the way he looked at her with lust and desire in his gaze as if she was a fine dinner and in fact it made little lightning strikes run throughout her body and caused her to shiver in delicious anticipation.

"Oh not for months yet," said Jasper calmly even as he continued to look up and down his mate's gorgeous, sexy, naked body. "You'll just have to be patient."

"You took me out to hunt when I was first turned and nothing happened," Bella pointed out.

"Yes, that is true, but it was also very late at night when I knew there were likely to be very many people about, especially in such a small town. Small town people tend to go to bed earlier then people from a big city."

Bella knew this to be true as she had come from a small town herself. Most small town people worked from dawn to dusk, especially if it was something like farming, although there were a lot of jobs that required you to get up early and didn't let you go to bed until long after dark.

Jasper put on his clothes although he didn't bother with underwear. He didn't even own a pair of underwear as he didn't see the point and besides he was a big man and it was hard to find ones that would fit him comfortably. Besides even if he could find ones to fit he had a feeling he wouldn't like the confinement as he liked to leave his cock as free as possible.

"Did you ever think about buying a car?" asked Bella curiously. "I know you can afford it."

"Why bother when you can just run anywhere?" asked Jasper as he helped Bella pull a pair of jeans on buttoning them for her. They fit better than she expected them to, kind snuggly, but not to tight and Jasper then helped her get one of the silk blouses over her head only asking for her to raise her arms for him.

"Well for one thing we could carry more things if we had a car," Bella pointed out reasonably. "Besides you just can't spend the rest of your existence living out here in the wild wandering from place to place on your own two feet. Sooner or later that's going to be more difficult as the human race expands and as the human race grows so will technology. Trees will be cut down to make room for buildings and so forth. I just think it is better if we are a little integrated into human society before that happens as I would think it would be easier to do now, before the humans start expanding even more than they have already. I think I read somewhere that the population of this planet is already something like 2 billion and just imagine what that will be 50 years from now."

"Humans do tend to breed like rabbits, don't they?" Jasper mused thoughtfully. "At least that means our kind will always have plenty of food with no danger of running out."

"Yes, that's true, most families have at least three or four children if not more even poor ones as they need the children to help with the work and also because a lot of children tend to die from various diseases," Bella said. "I was an only child, but I was unusual as most of the women who were married had at least two if not three or four children. Of course I know plenty of ones that died when they were just babies or small children from some disease or other."

"I see your point," Jasper admitted. "I suppose we do need to become more integrated into society even if we have to live on the edge of it and don't have any human friends so to speak we need to at least have a proper address and proper identification."

"How will we get identification?" asked Bella curiously. "It's not like we can go to the DMV and tell him we need IDs."

"Don't worry I know how to make fake IDs that will pass any kind of inspection," Jasper promised. "I've learned a lot of things in the years of my existence and I always try to keep a lookout for useful skills to pick up. I've made fake IDs before. Well how could I even have gotten a bank account if I didn't know how to do that as they require some form of ID just to make sure you are you say you are."

"Well good," Bella said.

"I suppose we could buy a car," Jasper said. "I do know how to drive as I learned from Peter years ago. I just never saw the point of owning a car myself. If I wanted to drive a car I just borrowed one of Peter's for a while."

"Your friend has more than one car?" asked Bella trying not to look astonished.

"Oh yes," Jasper chuckled. "Peter is a collector of sorts and he's always liked cars so he collects them. He has a whole barn full, which has been converted to hold them."

Bella shook her head as she couldn't even imagine owning one car much less a whole barn full.

"How many cars does your friend own?" asked Bella trying to contain her curiosity.

"As of last time I saw them, which was about five years ago, he had an even dozen, but you never know he if he's bought another one."

"I don't know how he has a time to drive all of them or how he can afford to maintain them," Bella said shaking her head as she didn't understand many men's fascination with cars.

"Trust me he has many roads on his property that he built himself and that he races on all the time," Jasper said with a chuckle at Bella's expression, which was bewildered. "And like me he had plenty of money so that isn't a concern."

"Men!" Bella said taking Jasper's hand in hers as the two of them walked through the forest at a much faster than human pace that wasn't quite running as there was no reason to hurry after all.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"Ahh, that feels so good," Bella sighed. She and Jasper sat buck naked in the middle of a fast running stream in the middle of the woods right outside of Denver for Bella had decided that she desperately needed a bath even if it was in the middle of a cold stream. She knew she couldn't sweat anymore, but she had dirt all over various parts of her body, from when she and Jasper had made love on the forest floor. Leaves and pine needles also clung to her hair, which was also a tangled mess so she had felt that a bath was just the thing.

"Can I wash your back, milady?" asked Jasper as he leered at her playfully looking up and down her body.

Bella just chuckled at him knowing that he was not serious and nodded. "Go right ahead, but only if I can return the favor."

"You're welcome to do whatever you want with my body," Jasper told her not even feeling embarrassed as Bella looked him up and down with desire in her still newborn red eyes that were slowly darkening to normal. In fact if you wanted the truth Bella's look of lust and desire made the general harden until it was quite painful and Jasper knew the only way to relieve the pain was to be buried inside his mate's body.

"Oh believe me, I will," Bella assured him huskily as she leaned over and gave him a heartstopping kiss sticking her tongue in his mouth without even bothering to ask permission, not that she needed any.

When they broke the kiss Bella started kissing the side of his neck and then moved down to his chest and then his belly button sticking my tongue in it.

"Bella!" Jasper almost screamed as his body arching in pleasure coming almost completely out of the streambed where he was sitting. "I need you now!"

Bella didn't respond verbally and just lay down on the side of the bank so that Jasper had easy access to her body and where she needed him most. Most the time it didn't take much for them to want each other as just a simple touch could do it a lot of the time. Jasper had told her that once the bond matured it would be easier to control themselves a little better and lengthen their lovemaking sessions where they would last longer than a few minutes. They would always find pleasure in making love, but they wouldn't want to just attack each other all the time like they had been doing for the last few days.

"I'm all yours," Bella assured him.

"Yes, you are," Jasper growled softly as he lay down on top of a very naked and dripping wet Bella. Jasper met Bella's gaze so that she could see that his eyes had gone from red to pitch-black with desire.

"I can smell your arousal," Jasper said huskily before sticking his tongue into Bella's pussy and licking up every drop of liquid that it produced.

Bella groaned as the sensations Jasper was causing were so exquisite that her pussy just automatically produced even more liquid for Jasper to lick up.

"Jasper!" Bella groaned her voice desperate, her entwined hands pulling on his hair. "Would you quit playing around and take me? I need you now! I feel as if I am being burned alive from the inside out and I know that only you releasing your semen into me will put it out."

"Immediately!" Jasper responded instantly to his mate's begging shoving his cock into Bella's pussy as deep as it could go hitting Bella's G spot in the process and instantly releasing his cum even as Bella arched her back and screamed his name so loudly that the few birds left in the area flew immediately away.

The fire in Bella's insides immediately went out and as soon as she came down from her climax she sighed in relief, but also disappointment.

"Every time we do that it just keeps getting better and better," Bella said once she had enough breath back to speak.

"I just love it when you scream my name and the smell of your arousal drives me absolutely wild with desire," Jasper told his mate his voice still husky with desire.

Bella leaned up and kissed him on the nose and then on the lips. "I love it when you scream my name as well as it just excites me to know that I can do that to you and that you want me as much as I want you. It doesn't even matter that most of our lovemaking sessions don'y take very long as I figure with more experience the longer they will last."

"There is something to be said for experience," Jasper agreed huskily, "and I intend for us to get a lot of it as we will be making love practically everytime we turn around."

"That's okay with me," Bella assured him. "I'm certainly not going to object. I would be stupid to object and I'm not stupid. Also the fact that I can no longer get sore, tired or sleepy like I could when I was human means we can make love twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week if we really wanted to."

"No, you are a very bright and intelligent, young lady and therefore the perfect mate for me," Jasper told her and he gave her a kiss on the lips. "Shall we continue what we were doing, milady?"

"Yes, we shall," Bella agreed giving Jasper another kiss as she went to sit back in the middle of the streambed.

Jasper for his part took the soap and washcloth out of Bella's knapsack and soaked both in the water of the stream before applying it to Bella's back and gently running it up and down.

"Ah, that feels so good," Bella sighed enjoying the sensation of Jasper running the washcloth up and down her back.

"There, now that your back is all done it's time to do your lovely, firm breasts and your stomach," Jasper said as he finished washing her back.

"Be my guest," Bella said giving him a wicked grin.

"Do you know I love every part of your anatomy but you're breasts aside from your pussy are my favorite."

"Why am I not surprised?" asked Bella with humor lacing her voice. "Every man I was ever acquainted with was either a breast man or a leg man as those two things seemed to be their favorite parts of a woman's body. It isn't as if a female's breast and legs are the only parts that there is to her body, but they seemed to grab a man's attention more than any other part. I for one have never understood a man's obsession with those two parts of a female's body."

"No, there is your soft, flat stomach," Jasper said demonstrating by placing kisses, nips and licks all over that part of his mate's body causing Bella to purr and shiver at the delicious sensations that Jasper was causing.

"Your strong, soft, sexy thighs," Jasper continued giving both her inner and outer thighs the same treatment that he had given her stomach. "And your round, perfect, little ass that I just love to run my mouth over as well as sticking my tongue into your hole and licking up all the liquid your body produces just from me touching you." Jasper continued his treatment and flipped Bella onto her stomach so that he had easy access to her ass and then took great pains to nip, lick and kiss every inch of it before sticking his tongue up her hiney hole causing Bella to groan and become even more aroused then she already was if that was possible for the tortuous, yet exquisite sensations that had been building within her ever since Jasper had started his treatment had just gone up quite a few notches.

"I love your hands which are so delicate and yet strong at the same time and with your long slender fingers you could give any man more pleasure then he knew how to deal with, although no other man will ever have that opportunity for you are all mine, and mine alone." The last few words came out in a growl as if the beast within Jasper came to the fore.

"Yours," Bella assured him her voice filled with lust and desire reaching up and running a finger tenderly over his cheek and then over his scarred chest. Jasper's scars had never bothered her, which still amazed him as every other vampire he had met was afraid of his scars as it marked him as dangerous. "I am yours, yours alone. I will never want anybody else and will never even look at another man the same way I look at you for you have not only my heart, but my soul."

"And finally your feet which with toes just the right size for me to suck on," Jasper continued his voice back to normal, except filled with desire, taking one of Bella's toes into his mouth and using his tongue to go all the way around it leaving a trail of venom on the surface of her skin.

"I love every part of you, your nose, the shape of your eyes, your mouth, but especially your silky, soft brown hair," said Jasper finishing his demonstration by kissing each of her eyelids, her nose and finally her lips, all the while running a hand through through Bella's silky mahogany curls.

Bella purred and her orgasm which had been building all this time exploded and it was at least fifteen minutes later before Bella could speak without feeling little stabs of pleasure going throughout her body.

"I love you too," Bella told him retuning the kiss. "I love every part of you, but my favorite is of course your cock and balls as I just love to take your penis into my mouth and suck on it until you come in my mouth and I can then swallow every single drop of your delectable cum." Bella demonstrated by taking Jasper's cock into her mouth and sucking on it like it was a piece of sausage. Jasper's cock which had already been standing at attention hardened even more and stood even straighter. It was now Jasper's turn to groan as exquisite sensations of pleasure coursed through him from the sensations the general was sending him.

Bella continued to suck on Jasper's cock and then used one of her hands to massage his balls and Jasper unable to take anymore roared his mate's name and came into her mouth.

"The things you do to me," Jasper told her as soon as he had come down from his orgasm. "I have never had such strong climaxes in all my years of existence and Bella unlike you I was no virgin."

"As if I hadn't already guessed that," Bella said not seeming at all upset at Jasper's admission. "I knew that there was no way you would have gone almost ninety years and not had sex in all that time. I might be a little naïve, although even that is debatable, but I'm not stupid."

"No, you are anything but," Jasper said feeling very relieved that Bella wasn't upset with him, which he knew for sure thanks to his empathic gift.

"All that matters is that you are mine now," Bella said.

"I am yours," Jasper assured her kissing her nose and sending her his emotions so that she knew he meant every word. "Heart and soul."

"Well, then those other women, human or vampire don't matter," Bella said decisively. "Those other women were back before my parents or even my grandparents were even born so I can't really hold them against you for after all a man has needs just like a woman does."

"You know you could be burned at the stake just a few decades ago for talking about sex outside of marriage don't you?" Jasper joked. "No properly brought up young lady would even consider enjoying having sex and definitely wouldn't think about it before they were married. If you did you were either ostracized as a witch or were demon possessed."

Bella snorted at that in contempt. "And yet a man was allowed to think and talk about such things in public to his male friends and didn't get in any trouble for it, which is just stupid. Why is it a man is considered able to talk about these things and women are supposed to be mostly seen and not heard?"

"That's just the way of the world, I'm afraid," Jasper told her. "I'm not saying I agree, because I don't, but that is only mostly because I've been alive a lot longer then a human lives. You remember we've talked about this before."

"I remember," Bella said as she lay there with her head pillowed on Jasper's chest and his arms cradling her body gently. "It still isn't fair though."

"No, it isn't," Jasper agreed. "It is slowly getting better though. Just a few decades ago it was much, much, worse."

"And I suppose it doesn't help that we are now going through what people are calling the Great Depression."

"No, it doesn't," Jasper agreed. "In that way we are lucky as we don't eat human food and even with this current economic slump I don't believe our food source is in danger of dying out." The humor lacing Jasper's voice was obvious causing Bella to laugh as she knew he was joking.

Bella, of course, knew he meant humans, which both of them had been at one point in their lives. She knew it should bother her more then it did that her source of substance was the very thing that had used to run through her veins, but it didn't or at least it didn't so long as she didn't make a meal off a child.

"This economic slump as you call it will pass, eventually as humans don't stay down very long and will figure out a way to get out of it," Bella said with a shrug. "And no, humans are in no danger of dying out considering there are billions of them. It would some kind of major economic disaster to cause the extinction of the human race."

"Which could happen," Jasper pointed out in all seriousness, but with laughter in his red eyes. When Bella shot him a look of disbelief he added, "It isn't likely, I'll admit, but we both know how inventive and destructive the human race can be so you never know."

"I suppose that's true," Bella admitted thoughtfully. Finally Bella looked up and said, "Let's actually finish our bath this time shall we? It not that the sex isn't spectacular, because it is, but now I need a bathe even worse then I did before."

"Your wish is my command, milady," Jasper said as the two of them continued their interrupted bath in the very cold stream. It was actually a good thing that neither one of them could get sick as the water was just below freezing.

"Dunk your head into the water so I can wash your hair," Jasper suggested after a making sure the rest of his mate's body was clean.

Bella did as she was told and submerged her head into the very cold water. "Brrr! That's cold!" Bella said when she emerged again.

"Yes, it is," Jasper agreed as he ran the rose scented soap over ever inch of Bella's hair.

"Dunk your head again," Jasper said as soon as he was sure that he had gotten ever silky, soft strand well lathered with the soap.

Bella did so and Jasper used his hand to massage her hair making sure her got all the leaves and dirt out.

"Okay you can sit up now," Jasper said as soon as he was done.

Bella did so and Jasper handed her the mirror and brush he had gotten her without being asked so she could get the tangles out of her hair.

"Would you brush my hair for me?" Bella requested. "I don't want to break the hairbrush or mirror by grasping them to hard."

"Certainly," Jasper said beyond pleased that Bella was actually asking for his help. Jasper ran the hairbrush through Bella's tangled hair being as gentle as he possibly could be as there were quite a few knots that needed to be worked out.

"That feels so good," Bella sighed as she relaxed underneath Jasper's gentle touch.

"I would be happy to brush your hair anytime you want me to even after your newborn year is over," Jasper told her sincerely. "It isn't just you that gets pleasure from it after all, but I do as well."

"If you really don't mind, I'd like that," Bella told him somewhat embarrassed at admitting such a thing but being honest anyway.

"I don't mind," Jasper told her sending her his emotions so she would know that he was telling the truth. "There all done," he added a few minutes later making sure Bella's hair hung neatly down her back. "Now do you want it hanging free or would you like be to use the hair clip?"

"The hair clip," Bella decided immediately. "It is not as likely to get snagged on things that way. Maybe when we decide to settle down and stop living in the woods I'll do it differently."

"There all done," Jasper repeated a few minutes later as he took the hair clip out of Bella's knapsack and then pulled her hair into a simple ponytail securing it with the clip.

"Now it's your turn Mr. Whitlock," Bella told him mock sternly, but with laughter in her voice. "You washed me and I'll be absolutely delighted to do the same for you."

Jasper obeyed eagerly and handed Bella the soap that he had bought for himself from his knapsack. The soap he used didn't smell like roses, but like sandalwood instead and to Bella the scent was very soothing and pleasing.

"So this why you always smell so good," said Bella. "What is this scent?" she added smelling the soap.

"Sandalwood," Jasper said.

"Oh you mean like some people use in incense?"

"That's right," said Jasper sighing as Bella began running the washcloth loaded with soap up and down Jasper's lightly scarred back. The white, crescent shaped marks had never frightened her, although she was aware that most other vampires would indeed be frightened by all the scars as she now knew that it was very hard to injure one of their kind's skin as they were almost invulnerable. The only thing that could do it actually were a vampire's teeth or fingernails and so Jasper's scars proved that he had seen a lot of fighting and survived, which meant he was one hell of a fighter. If it was just one or two scars most vampires wouldn't be afraid of him, but Jasper had hundreds of them all over his body most of them invisible beneath his clothes, but enough of them were visible to make other vampires very cautious around him.

"I didn't know they made soap out of the stuff as well," said Bella.

"They do and since I've always liked the scent it is what I use," Jasper replied almost drowsily as Bella's touch was very soothing. "It is a very subtle kind of scent and not at all strong, which is good as vampires have a very advanced sense of smell and a lot of scents are so powerful that they are almost sickening. You get used to strong scents after awhile, but that doesn't mean you want to be around them all the time."

"Now for your front," Bella said finally coming to kneel between Jasper's legs in the stream instead of behind him.

Bella soaped up the washcloth again and began running it up and down Jasper's chest very gently paying special attention to each and every one of his scars. Jasper had far more scars on his chest and stomach then he did on his back and Bella was amazed that he had managed to to survive at all as he must had had several hundred on his chest alone some layered over top of each other, but going in different directions so you could tell it was actually two or three separate scars instead of one.

"Ah, that feels so good," Jasper sighed. "You have a very gentle and tender touch."

"Thank you, but I believe it would be totally different if it wasn't you. I think I am being so gentle and tender because I love you and I don't think it would be quite the same if I didn't."

"That's likely as I know I have been more gentle with you then with anybody else I have ever made love to," said Jasper. "I've never been known for being either gentle or tender I assure you or for caring for other women's needs no matter how basic."

Bella giggled at that knowing that Jasper spoke nothing but the absolute truth.

"You are the only person who has ever accepted me completely including my scars, well except for Peter and Charlotte, but they don't really count since they were there and have scars of their own."

"So when are you going to introduce me to them?" asked Bella curiously.

"Soon," Jasper assured her. "As soon as I'm sure you can be around humans without letting your bloodlust overcome you we'll go to Texas where they have a ranch house. We have to cross some areas teeming with humans and although I have no objections if you want to drain a few of them dry we still need to be careful for we more then likely will come across more then either of us can eat in one sitting and there's no point in wasting food by just killing any humans that sees something they shouldn't and you know very well we cannot afford to leave any witness alive."

"That makes sense," Bella agreed.

"Believe me I am looking forward to introducing you to my brother and sister and I am sure they are looking forward to meeting you as well, but it can wait awhile."

"And now for the finale," Bella murmured gently taking Jasper's cock into her hands and gently started to run the washcloth over it so that in just a few seconds it was sparkling clean. As she did that however she also tenderly fondled it causing Jasper to groan as sensations of pleasure coursed strongly though him.

"My aren't you a big man," Bella teased him fondling his balls and taking his penis into her mouth and running her tongue all over its length, not seeming to care that it still had soap all over it.

"Bbbbbeeeeellllllaaaaaa!" Jasper purred loudly drawing out her name.

With the saying of her name Bella released his cock and told him, "Take me! I need you inside me!"

Jasper obeyed with impressive speed and had her on her back in the middle of the streambed and his cock embedded in her body all in the space of a few seconds. Luckily the stream wasn't that deep at least in this portion of it and so Bella's nose and mouth were still above water even while the rest of her body was underwater not that it would have mattered because as a vampire she didn't technically need to breathe anyway and so would not have drowned.

Both of them just lay there in the middle of that stream for a long time afterward neither wanting to move as they were both very comfortable, especially with Jasper's cock still embedded in Bella's body that caused very strong sensations of pleasure in both of them every time either one of them moved even a little.

"I could stay like this for the next month or two," Bella commented idly after a while.

"Me to, but we need to finish with our baths and move on," Jasper said regretfully.

"Why?"

"Because sooner or later somebody is going to come into these woods to hunt or pick berries or something and although I have no objection if we drained them dry it could be a kid and not an adult."

"I suppose you're right," Bella agreed after taking a moment to sigh in regret.

Both of them rose and Jasper pulled the general from Bella's body groaning audibly at the loss and Bella finished washing Jasper's body with the sandalwood soap that luckily had not been washed away when they were busy and then did his hair leaving it hanging loose after brushing it out so there weren't any tangles.

"There all done," Bella said. "Now all we have to do is dry off enough so that our clothes won't be soaked through the minute we put them on."

"It's not like we can catch cold if we do put them on wet and they will dry eventually," Jasper pointed out.

"True enough, but they will also be uncomfortable until they do and it's not like we can step into the sunlight to dry them faster. Besides even if we could step out into the sun and not sparkle do you know how long it takes something like jeans to dry? Also they'd be all stiff and uncomfortable afterwards and the water would probably ruin the silk blouse you probably paid way to much for. "

"Alright, alright, I give in," Jasper said with a laugh. "I've traveled in wet jeans often enough to know you're right."

Both of them laid their down under the shade of a tree side by side and waited patiently for their bodies to dry so they don their clothes and get moving to their next destination.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"You okay?" asked Jasper finally as he couldn't stand the silence anymore and Bella had been rather quiet for the last few days, giving only monosyllabic answers to his questions. He could tell that something was bothering her and that she was thinking about something deeply and hadn't yet solved the problem. That Bella had yet to voice her thoughts to him disturbed him just a little and he began to wonder why she hadn't talked to him as normally they were able to talk about just about anything under the sun. Very few subjects were off limits to either of them as they knew they could tell the other anything without worrying about them being judgmental and yet Bella had yet to say anything about what was worrying her. It was just six months into Bella's newborn year and she had been doing extremely well so far, although he was man enough to admit that her continued silence worried him. "You've seemed rather…" Jasper searched for a word and then finally settled on, "… pensive the last few days."

Bella looked at Jasper, truly looked at him, for the first time in days and then said, "Yes, I suppose I have been rather quiet lately and I'm sorry if I worried you."

"So what's the problem?" asked Jasper. "I don't mean to pry, really, but you've seemed kind of sad as well as pensive the last few days and I was wondering if it was something I had done."

"No, it's nothing you have done," Bella said genuinely horrified that he had thought that giving him a very heartfelt kiss.

"So if it isn't me, what's the problem?" asked Jasper relaxing somewhat relieved that it wasn't something he had done to make her so sad and pensive.

"Nothing really," Bella demurred. When Jasper look disbelieving she added, "I've just been thinking that I would love to have children with you and I know thanks to us being vampires that we can't."

Jasper looked startled as he had never thought about having children of his own but that was only because at one point he was fighting in the Southern Wars and then later the thought of children had just never occurred to him, but now that it had her knew with a deep longing that he would love to have children with his Bella, but that just wasn't possible unfortunately.

"Having children never occurred to me," Jasper making a little sadly after a moment, "but that's only because for decades I was fighting the Southern Wars and then after that I guess I never thought about it since I knew it would never happen, but just so you know I would love to have children with you to if it was at all possible."

"Even if we were human having children wouldn't be really possible," Bella said.

"Why not?" asked Jasper curiously a little startled at Bella's comment.

"Because from what I can remember of my human life I suffered from a very bad fever as a child and the doctor told me and my parents that it was unlikely I would ever be able to have children because of it. If I'm not remembering wrongly I barely survived it as my fever was quite high and if it hadn't broken when it did I probably would have died."

Jasper shuddered at that thought as he knew that he never would have met her in that case and she would have died years before she was even grown.

"I'm glad I didn't die," Bella told Jasper after seeing him shudder at the thought of her death, "because then I never would have met you and you have made me so happy."

Jasper raised his body a little from where he and Bella lay to give her a kiss on the nose playfully before more seriously giving her one on the lips.

"I'm glad that you're so happy being with me, but from now on tell me when you're worried or sad about something," Jasper almost begged her. "You had me really worried the last few days because I knew you were thinking about something deeply, but since you didn't seem to want to talk about it I was trying to give you some privacy. Besides we should be able to talk to each other about anything and every thing."

"I appreciate it and I'm really sorry if I worried you, but it didn't seem like a subject I could just bring up out of the blue if you know what I mean," said Bella as she snuggled into Jasper's arms contentedly, where they were laying on the ground under the shade of a tree with their arms around each other and did I mention that both were totally naked as well.

"If you really want children the way to go about it is the turn a grownup human into a vampire. With one of our venoms running in their veins they would be considered our child and that is the only way that a vampire can have children," Jasper said.

"I'll think about it," Bella promised, "although I have not yet met a human that I like enough to even consider doing that too. It's got to be somebody that I have some feelings for as I'm not big on turning just random human because who knows if I'll be able to stand whoever it is for the rest of my existence."

"I think that is very wise," Jasper agreed giving her another kiss on the lips.

"I promise I'll try not to hold stuff in anymore," Bella said, "but as you know all of us need some private time and I'm pretty sure I've always been like that. I don't normally discuss such private thoughts with anybody, but of course, I wasn't really close enough to anybody in the town I was born in to be able to do that anyway."

"I would appreciate if you would try because you really had me worried that you weren't enjoying being with me and traveling like we do."

"Oh, that is definitely not a problem," Bela assured Jasper her voice husky. "I enjoy your company more than I have enjoyed anyone else's and that's the truth. As for the traveling it's okay to, although I would like to settle somewhere pretty soon for at least awhile so that I can get a hot bath if nothing else."

"I promised you we would settle somewhere at least temporarily," Jasper said, "and as soon as you can be around a lot of humans without attacking them we'll see about buying us a house somewhere remote and private like I mentioned several months ago."

"Oh don't worry, I haven't forgotten," Bella assured him. "I'm gonna hold you to it too."

"I always keep my promises," Jasper said.

"You do or at least you have for the six months I've known you," Bella said kissing Jasper on the nose, before claiming his lips for a very serious, lung-searing kiss.

"And I'll always keep my promises to you," Jasper promised huskily. "Since I know you want to settle somewhere at least semi-permanently I'll go out of my way to make sure your very reasonable wish is granted."

"And I love you even more for it," Bella said.

"Well is not like you ask for much," Jasper said teasingly. "You've always said that all you need to be happy is just me."

"And that's very true," Bella agreed, "but I certainly won't object to to gaining a few possessions even if I don't need them to be happy."

"You might not necessarily need things in order to be happy, but I know that you've been yearning for some beautiful things, jewelry, clothes and other things that you couldn't afford when you were human."

"I had clothes when I was human," Bella protested.

"Yes, but they were all practical," Jasper replied knowing he was very right as he had seen the way that Bella had gently rubbed the silk of the panties he had gotten her a few months ago. "They were made out of sturdy materials and not silk and linen which is very expensive as you know. The clothes you had were meant for everyday use and wouldn't be ruined if you spilled something on them or simply got sweaty from hard work, while there would be no way to get some stains out of silk."

"Like I would have ever worn anything so impractical if I was going to do something that would get me dirty," Bella snorted in derision. "I know a lot of people would have, but then they could probably afford to replace a nice blouse or silk skirt while I couldn't, even if I had owned such things."

Jasper had no reply to that as he knew very well that Bella was spot on. Some people human or vampires didn't care if they messed up their nice clothes as they could always buy more. In fact the truth was he didn't really care either, mostly because he never wore anything that he cared about if he got stains on it or if it got ripped because he mostly wore, shirts made out of cotton, jeans and boots nothing that mattered if they got ruined or destroyed.

"Both of us are a better pair as mates then I imagined," Jasper told Bella finally. "We're both very practical when it comes to most everything but that doesn't mean we don't like nice and expensive things we just don't have to have them in order to be happy or content with our life."  
"Yes, that kind of thing is nice but all I really need is you, a full belly and a few clothes since I can't walk into a town naked."

"I wish you could as I love seeing your naked body," Jasper told her leering at her playfully.

"Just as much as I like seeing yours, scars and all," Bella said running a hand through Jasper's curly hair. "Unfortunately we would be arrested for indecent exposure if we appeared in town in nothing but our birthday suits," said Bella with a giggle as she imagined that scene.

"Like any cop could put us in jail," Jasper scoffed.

"True, still we have to show a certain amount of decency and go along with human conventions," said Bella. "Some of them at any rate."

"I suppose," Jasper agreed after a moment, "but I would love to see you walk into a big town wearing nothing at all just to see the reactions of all the humans that would be around to see you."

"Jasper!" exclaimed Bella pretending to be horrified. "How could you even think you playing such a cruel joke on all the humans? I'm sure at least some of them would die of shock or heart attacks."

"Yes, it would be a sight to see, don't you think?" Jasper asked with a wicked grin.

Bella laughed the sound ringing around the clearing joyfully and by time she finally quit laughing it was over 10 minutes later. "Yes, it would be," Bella agreed.

"I just love to hear you laugh," Jasper said and Bella didn't look surprised at the words as Jasper had told her this on several occasions just in six months they had known each other.

"I know you do, but I never understood why," Bella said.

"Don't you know?" asked Jasper in genuine surprise. "You have a beautiful laugh, full of happiness without anything added in it."

"What do you mean?" asked Bella questioningly.

"Well when most people laugh it is not out of happiness. "You can convey a lot of emotion in a laugh like if you're angry, sad, happy, joyful or any other emotion you can name. Just imagine like a nasty neighbor laughing at your misfortune for example," Jasper said.

Bella nodded as she could imagine that very well as she seemed remember having such a neighbor when she had been human, one that had enjoyed laughing at others misfortune and also caused quite a few herself.

"You can also laugh even if there's no humor in it or when you're sad and each time you laugh it is different," Jasper said. "It's almost as if a person's laugh tells a story and what kind of mood they're in."

"I never thought of it like that," Bella said thoughtfully, "but I suppose most people don't. You're right though and a person laughing is a pretty good indicator as to what kind of person they are. So the reason you like my laugh is their is just pure happiness and joy in it without any of the nasty undertones that a lot of people have when they laugh."

"Yes, that's it exactly and it means that you are a naturally happy individual and won't let the hardness of life get you down."

"Can you really be happy and practical?" asked Bella just a little teasingly.

"Sure," Jasper replied. "Being happy with your life does not mean you can't be practical too."

"You know I don't remember being this happy as a human so it must be you that makes me so full of joy and happiness," Bella said giving him a kiss on the lips that was quite passionate.

"That's nice to hear," Jasper said as soon as they had broken the kiss some minutes later.

"I'm glad you enjoyed hearing it as it just happens to be true," Bella said as she cuddled into Jasper's side contently. "You make my life worth living. You make me complete. I never knew what I was missing when I was human and I never got close to man or boy when I was growing up as I just didn't feel a connection with them like I do with you. Most of them avoided me anyway simply because I had a reputation for being a bit wild."

"You never went out on a date? Even once?" asked Jasper in astonishment.

Bella shook her head, "Not that I was really interested in such things but it might've been nice if someone had it least asked me once."

"Well they were a bunch of idiots then if they couldn't see your worth," Jasper said. "I'm glad you never dated as that means I am your first and only."

The major within Jasper growled in agreement as that meant that Bella's heart was his and his alone.

"Yes, you are my first and my only as I will never love anyone else as my heart is yours, and yours alone."

"Good," Jasper growled feeling very territorial.

"Shh! My love," Bella whispered, lovingly running one hand over Jasper's naked chest. "You will never have to worry about my loyalty as you have captured my heart and for the man who has my heart, he has my soul as well and for the man who has both my heart and soul he has the rest of me as well, my mind, my body..."

Bella continued her soothing words and Jasper gradually calmed down.

"Sorry about that," Jasper apologized. "The vampire in me started getting a little aggressive for really no reason at all as I know you are mine as you say."

"I am indeed yours," Bella said, giving Jasper's chest several kisses. "Now to deliberately change the subject back to what we were talking about earlier..."

"You mean children?" asked Jasper.

"Yes, I mean children," Bella said. "I wanted to ask you if you would mind if we change someone into a vampire someday so that we could have a family."

"No I wouldn't mind," Jasper replied, "so long as it was somebody both you and me were fond of at least."

"Don't worry, because as I said earlier I'm not going to go change some random human into a vampire just so I can have a son or daughter. Besides that would be more likely drain them dry then change them since I am only six months old at this point. I'm just asking in case I want to do it someday, even if that someday is 100 years or more down the road."

"Good," Jasper said grinning wickedly. "Now, my mate, I do believe we have better things to do."

Bella knew immediately what Jasper meant but decided to play along

"What do you mean?" asked Bella with a raised eyebrow, her voice teasing.

"You know very well what I mean, my Bella," Jasper said with a growl.

"I do indeed," Bella agreed with a wicked grin of her own instantly turning onto her back so that Jasper would have easy access to every part of her body.

Jasper didn't reply and just started kissing, licking and nipping his mate's body, doing absolutely wicked and sinful things to her with his mouth, teeth and tongue making Bella immediately start to purr in pleasure.

And the was how they spent the rest of the day making love to each other again and again until they finally both just cuddled together completely sated many hours later.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"You need to go hunt," Jasper said as he looked into Bella's black eyes as the two of them lay in each others arms. "So do I for that matter.

"Now that you mention it I am pretty thirsty," Bella admitted.

"I'm not in the least surprised," Jasper said, "considering the way we were going at it."

Bella giggled. "Don't you mean the way we were fucking each other again and again and again?" asked Bella.

"Well yes," Jasper admitted with a laugh of his own. "I was trying to be polite about it."

"There's no reason to be polite around me," Bella assured him, "and in fact I find it kind of freeing that I can use any kind language I so desire now. If I had done that in the little town I lived in I would've been even more ostracized then I already was as a lady just didn't use foul language."

Jasper snorted at that. "Woman sure did get the short end of the stick didn't they?"

"If you mean that men can do a lot more things that women can then yes, they did," Bella replied. "Not to mention fashion is a lot fairer to men then it is to women. I don't see a man putting on a pair of high heel shoes just because it makes their legs look a mile long and don't even get me started on corsets, petticoats and dresses. Corsets in particular were a pain in the…" Bella paused searching for word which Jasper supplied.

"Ass?" Jasper suggested.

Bella giggled again, "Yes, that will do, although I was trying not to use such a foul word and not because I'm so reluctant to, but because I didn't want you think of me as hooligan or a hoyden who had never been taught any better, now did I?"

"Not going to happen," Jasper told her. "If you ask me women have way too many restrictions on them. I could understand it thousands of years ago when life was harder and more dangerous, but not in today's society."

"Yes, well, you know that society is slow to change and it'll be a long time probably decades at least and possibly even longer before women are considered truly equal to men," Bella said. "Things are slowly changing and I'm sure eventually woman will be able to hold the same jobs as a man and get paid just the same as them to but for now lets go hunting as my throat is beginning to burn even worse then it was a few minutes ago.

Jasper nodded, helped Bella to her feet and then helped her pull on her clothes, before pulling on his own, so they could go hunting.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

"So where we going to hunt?" asked Bella curiously.

"I thought we'd go into Las Vegas since we're so close," Jasper replied as the two of them ran at vampire speed. "It is a major population and it is unlikely to be noticed if five or six people disappear in one night as it happens all the time since it is the major gambling capitol of the world.

"Sounds good," Bella said.

"Once you're able to be around a lot of human we'll be gambling a lot," Jasper added almost as an afterthought.

"So you like to gamble do you?" Bella teased him.

"I like to win," Jasper corrected smugly. "With my talent I win more often than not, although I make sure I lose often enough that the owners of the casino don't get suspicious."

"So you cheat," Bella said as if it offended her, although Jasper knew better.

"Well it's not like I can turn my talent off," Jasper replied with a wink in Bella's direction, "so I might as well use it. Besides how do you think I made a lot of my money?"

"By gambling?" asked Bella already knowing the answer.

"You bet," Jasper agreed. "Of course Maria gave me a lot of it and I invested it," Jasper added after a moment, "but I also won a lot of money gambling at various casinos in various cities. I'm particularly good at poker and other card games if I do say so myself."

"I've always wanted to try the slot machines," Bella said, "but I figured that I'd never have the money to even think about gambling. Now that I do though I would love to go with you when you go."

"Good, we'll have to do that sometime in the very near future," Jasper said pleased. "Gambling is a lot more fun I've found if you have somebody with you."

"Who did you bring last time you went?" asked Bella a little jealously.

"There's no reason to be jealous, my Bella, it was just Peter and Charlotte. The three of us sometimes take trips together and we decided once a few years ago to come to Las Vegas and do some gambling, although I will admit that was more Peter's and my thing then Charlotte's.

The jealousy left Bella's face and she's felt a little bit ashamed of herself for being so jealous before Jasper had even had a chance to explain.

"Don't be ashamed," Jasper told Bella running a hand through Bella's dark brown lustrous hair. "I won't deny I was with a lot of women over the years, but that was before I found you. To tell you the truth I find your jealousy kind of flattering."

Bella would have blushed if she could have. "I think the reason I was so jealous was because I really don't see what you see in me when you could have any women on the planet."

"I've explained the concept of soulmates to you and I know you understand," Jasper said trying to get his anger under control. It wasn't Bella he was angry at in any case, but the townsfolk's of the small town she had grown up in as they that had treated her so callously over the years that it had installed in her the belief that she wasn't worthy of being loved by someone like him. "Even if it wasn't for the mating bond I would still love you as you are very easy to love. Bella, looks don't really matter, or at least not to me. So what if there are more gorgeous girls out there? To me that kind of beauty looks artificial and not real at all. Besides I happen to think that you are the most beautiful woman on the planet and it is my opinion that counts in this case. I've actually had my doubts sometimes as to whether or not I am worthy of you, what with my past, but then I decided that fate brought us together and so we are perfect for each other whether or not I think I so anyway."

"That is the most beautiful and romantic thing I've ever heard in my life," Bella said truly awed at Jasper's words.

"It's also true," Jasper said as he grabbed Bella's hand in his as they ran through the forest.

Both Bella and Jasper fell silent, but it was a very comfortable silence compared to just a few minutes before and it wasn't more than a couple of minutes later that Jasper and Bella arrived at the edge of the city of Las Vegas.

"Well, shall we go hunt, my mate?" asked Jasper with a wicked grin.

"We shall," Bella agreed looking excited and Jasper could hardly blame her as he loved to hunt just as much as she did. It was the challenge that he enjoyed and Jasper was sure that it was the same for Bella as well.

Bella held her breath as she always did to reduce the scent of human blood as she and Jasper walked deeper into the city where suddenly there were hundreds of humans streaming around them, although they stuck to the shadows, which was easy to do since it was night out with only a quarter moon to see by. Humans had very poor eyesight in the dark and they wouldn't see the the vampire stalking them with only the moon and a few streetlights to see by for unless they wanted to be seen vampires were very good at sneaking up on their prey.

Quite suddenly Bella spotted her target, a woman walking alone not paying attention to her surroundings, not that it really mattered if she had been for she still would have died. The woman walked right by the alley where Jasper and Bella were waiting and Bella struck as fast as a striking and snake and had a hand over the woman's mouth and dragged into the alley in just a second.

The woman struggled, but it did absolutely no good whatsoever as Bella had her in a grip of iron and had her teeth sunk into the artery of the woman's neck in just a split second draining her dry.

Once the woman was dead the last drop of blood drained from her body Bella dropped the body to the ground of the alleyway.

"Want another?" asked Jasper.

"Yes," Bella answered. "I'm still thirsty."

Jasper nodded not really surprised and the two of them moved as if they were one entity to locate another target for Bella to feed off of.

Bella and Jasper had no trouble finding humans to hunt in the middle of Las Vegas considering it was a very large city, which meant it had several million people to choose from, so it wasn't more than three hours later that both of them were replete for the moment anyway, gotten rid of the evidence and were on their way out of town just before the sun rose in the east.

~~~Jasper and Bella~~~

Six months later

"This was a good idea, my Bella," Jasper told his mate as the two of them loaded the new Bugatti he had bought.

"Told you it would be," Bella mock scolded him as she had had a hard time convincing him that it was a good idea to own a car instead of just walking or running everywhere.

Bella had passed her newborn year with flying colors a month ago and so Jasper had decided that it was time that he and Bella integrated themselves in the human society as much as they were able to anyway. Bella's newborn year had gone relatively smoothly with only one serious incident and that was where she had attacked this woman in broad daylight not seeming to be able to help herself and although she had struggled against her instincts had not succeeded. Unfortunately for the humans who had seen the incident they had had to die, including a kid who couldn't have been more than three. Jasper and Bella had to get rid of all the humans in order to conceal the existence of vampires.

Bella still felt guilty especially for the death of a child, but also for the death of over twenty humans who had seen what had happened. She and Jasper had made quite a feast off the humans and made them last for three days. The humans of course begged and pleaded for their lives even as Jasper had led them into the woods using his talent to make them obey. If one of the humans showed signs of not wanting to move he would send them so much pain until they did as he had ordered them to and was able get them out of town without being seen. Once deep into the woods he'd had Bella stand guard them while he went and got some rope and then tied them all against different trees so they couldn't escape and the only mercy he had showed them was to give each of them sips of water and take them one at a time to go pee behind a bush with either him or Bella guarding them the whole time to make sure they would not try to run.

Bella had been unable to bring herself to make a meal off the child and so Jasper had drained him first and it hadn't taken hardly anytime at all because he was so small. The mother and father had cried out in horror and tried to struggle loose of the ropes, but they were tied to tightly as Jasper was an expert at that kind of thing so there was no way they could escape.

The only bit of compassion Jasper and Bella showed the grieving parents was that Bella said that she was sorry this was necessary and that they had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time and seen something that they shouldn't've seen, but not to worry as they would be joining their child in heaven very shortly.

The words Bella had spoken to the parents were very sincere, but the parents had been unable to look at her at all and especially not into Bella's red eyes as they cried and grieved for the death of their three-year-old son.

Jasper felt guilty for the death of the child even though he knew it was necessary to keep the secret of the vampire world, but the grief of the child's parents weighed heavily on him even now that both of them along with the other humans that had seen Bella drain that woman were dead.

"So you did," Jasper said as he came out of the memories of what had happened just a scant four months ago. Jasper ran a hand almost tenderly up and down the side of the car just stroking it. The Bugatti 41 or Royal was a dark blue from the front to the middle and black from the middle to the back on the sides where the doors were and also with a white top and was the biggest car he had ever seen with plenty of room for him and Bella and a couple of passengers or their luggage. One of the things that really pleased him was the fact that there was plenty of leg room as he was a tall man and he did not like being cramped despite the fact that he was a vampire and he couldn't really get them. That was one of his main complaints against cars actually at least until he had discovered this one. Most cars were too small to give him room to stretch out his legs which was one of the reasons he had always preferred to run places instead of driving. He had a feeling though that was about to change that just maybe they were coming into a new era.

"Well, shall we get going, my lady?" asked Jasper courteously as he walked over to the passenger side to open the door for his mate so that she could climb inside.

"Yes, let's get this show on the road," Bella replied enthusiastically.

Jasper get in on the driver side and started up the engine and headed towards the highway. "So where to my Bella?" asked Jasper.

"Anywhere the roads take us my love," Bella replied giving his hand a squeeze of affection. "It doesn't really matter to me where we go just so long as we are together."

Jasper turned his head towards Bella and gave her a wide grin before looking back at the road. "Then let the adventure begin!"

Bella's laughter filled the interior of the car with light and warmth and made Jasper feel good from the inside out.

"Every day has been an adventure since I met you!" Bella told him leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

Jasper gave her another brilliant smile adjusted his sunglasses that covered his red eyes and drove off into the predawn with the sun just setting behind them.


End file.
